Besides its tall skyscrapers, nothing screams
"New York City" more than bright neon lights.While neon signs are not
unique to New York, at one point they proliferated in tens of thousands of
storefronts throughout the city. And just like Broadway, which they are often
associated with, neon signs became an iconic part of the city's landscape by
the middle of the twentieth century.
But a changing landscape
is unfolding and an increasing number of neon clock are disappearing. Six years
ago, architectural conservator Thomas Rinaldi started documenting New York's
historic neon signs."Old neon signs had
caught my attention for many years, but around this time they began to
disappear at such a rate that I felt a real sense of urgency to photograph them
before they vanished forever," Rinaldi said.
The result is the book
"New York Neon," a visual tour of the remaining exposed-tube neon
signs in the five boroughs of New York City. Most of the 200 signs featured in
the book are early- and mid-20th century examples, manufactured before 1970.