The San Diego neighborhood of Hillcrest, has had a 25-foot neon sign for more than 70 years. However, recently, the neighborhood updated the sign with LED lighting from Plexineon. The original sign was presented to the community in 1940 as a gift from female shopkeepers, and it was refurbished in 1984. But it was recently retired and replaced by a replica: a new sign created with iLight Plexineon White Series fixtures. The result is a sign that looks like its predecessor, while offering all the benefits of LED technology. The original neon sign was prone to damage. Repairs were costly as well as inconvenient, causing traffic disruption each time the sign required a fix.
"Inevitably a truck or car with a tall antennae would pass under and take out a unit,” said Terry Kitaen, Senior Account Executive at Signtech Electrical Advertising, Inc., the company that performed the repairs. Kitaen suggested duplicating Hillcrest’s classic sign with a new sign offering the bright, nostalgic glow of neon, without the fragility. For the job, he had the perfect product in mind. Kitaen took a sample of Plexineon to a meeting with the Hillcrest neighborhood association. “I pounded a desk with it over and over to show how durable it is,” he said. “They loved it.”
“The quality is beautiful. If you didn’t know we replaced the old sign, you would never guess,” Kitaen asserted.
With the project go-ahead, Signtech worked closely with iLight to ensure the new sign would be a worthy successor to its predecessor. The new sign was ready in time to be unveiled at the neighborhood festival. Kitaen says it looks just as he hoped, with White Plexineon outlining each letter.
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