Burlingame Fred Meyer sign demolished

[SamSpade]

I have some pictures of took of it at night (not sure how to post images here) and the LED looks better than the neon. The white of the Burlingame is much whiter and brighter. The red is a slightly different color and not as bright but it still looks good. Pretty good example of LED replacing neon and how it can be better.

While probably a legal gray area, I usually post to Yelp. Then from Yelp you can actually view the direct images once uploaded (unlike Google Maps) and share using the "insert image" function here on the board (the mountain and sun landscape above).

[ClownLoach]

Apparently the new sign is already in place, and if one was not trained to dig deep, probably indistinguishable from the last version. "Kroger Family of Stores" did something right.
OregonLive.com - Meet the New Burlingame Fred Meyer Sign

I have some pictures of took of it at night (not sure how to post images here) and the LED looks better than the neon. The white of the Burlingame is much whiter and brighter. The red is a slightly different color and not as bright but it still looks good. Pretty good example of LED replacing neon and how it can be better.

LED will never be better than neon. Neon has a inconsistent glow to it which gives it charm. LED tubing is a consistent glow and color, and when done poorly like most creates visible "dots" through the tube. The new sign looks fine and because most people won't see it up close I guess it's acceptable to be LED. The old one didn't have a lot of intricate tubing anyway. But if it was a sign that received lots of pedestrian traffic and was viewed more closely then it would have a unnatural, modern look to it. I was reading that cold, wet climates are very bad for neon signs and that is why they are disappearing in this age of LED from places like the PNW. Thankfully they are still easy to repair and more prevalent in the Southwest (especially Vegas or course) where you can see the real artform neon provides.

[storewanderer]

Apparently the new sign is already in place, and if one was not trained to dig deep, probably indistinguishable from the last version. "Kroger Family of Stores" did something right.
OregonLive.com - Meet the New Burlingame Fred Meyer Sign

I have some pictures of took of it at night (not sure how to post images here) and the LED looks better than the neon. The white of the Burlingame is much whiter and brighter. The red is a slightly different color and not as bright but it still looks good. Pretty good example of LED replacing neon and how it can be better.

LED will never be better than neon. Neon has a inconsistent glow to it which gives it charm. LED tubing is a consistent glow and color, and when done poorly like most creates visible "dots" through the tube. The new sign looks fine and because most people won't see it up close I guess it's acceptable to be LED. The old one didn't have a lot of intricate tubing anyway. But if it was a sign that received lots of pedestrian traffic and was viewed more closely then it would have a unnatural, modern look to it. I was reading that cold, wet climates are very bad for neon signs and that is why they are disappearing in this age of LED from places like the PNW. Thankfully they are still easy to repair and more prevalent in the Southwest (especially Vegas or course) where you can see the real artform neon provides.

As far as this goes I'm just glad we didn't get a box shaped fruit cart logo Fred Meyer sign...

I like neon and we have a developer in Reno who has taken out a bunch of old weekly motels (causing exponential growth in the local homeless population) and demolished them but kept all the old neon signs, and refurbished them. He made this big long stretch of road along 4th Street between Keystone and Arlington called a Neon Light District or something. Seeing all the old signs refurbished is neat but remembering hundreds of people used to live in those motels... and seeing the vacant lots... ruins it for me... but the signs are neat..

[Super S]

As far as this goes I'm just glad we didn't get a box shaped fruit cart logo Fred Meyer sign...

I like neon and we have a developer in Reno who has taken out a bunch of old weekly motels (causing exponential growth in the local homeless population) and demolished them but kept all the old neon signs, and refurbished them. He made this big long stretch of road along 4th Street between Keystone and Arlington called a Neon Light District or something. Seeing all the old signs refurbished is neat but remembering hundreds of people used to live in those motels... and seeing the vacant lots... ruins it for me... but the signs are neat..

Somewhat related because this is Portland....

Several years back the Denny's at Jantzen Beach, which I would guess was 1960s or very early 1970s at the latest, moved to the former Newport Bay building nearby. However, the old neon Denny's sign still stands in the same place today next to I-5 even though the old building was demolished for new development.

As for the future of that sign, it's hard to tell as it is increasingly likely that the old drawbridges are going to be replaced at some point soon, which could potentially affect several businesses in the area.