North of downtown/Victorian Village

Not including the surrounding neon-rich areas of downtown itself, the Arena District, or the Short North. Not a ton of neon in Victorian Village, but enough interesting installations. Also I included a few examples that do not really fit anywhere good geographically, other than they are on the outskirts of downtown. The Wonderbread sign and the WBNS tower are Columbus landmarks, mainly due to their visibility from a large area of the freeway system north and west of the actual downtown. The Wonder bakery is also known for the wonderful (no pun intended!) smell that permeates the area in an otherwise sorta grimy area on N. 4th Street about a mile north of downtown Columbus. The WBNS TV tower is probably the tallest neon in the city, it's tower standing some nine hundred feet into the sky, the neon beacon of WBNS some two thirds up the tower. On a clear night the tall letters can be seen for miles as part of the downtown skyline. I am not sure as to when the Wonder Bread sign dates, but my guess is sometime in the 1970s maybe earlier or a bit later. I was going to get to the south campus/Short North areas last night, but I realized it was moving day at OSU and traffic was bad for a Sunday night. All photos were taken the evening of Sun. 9/21.













^This cool cat sits on the attic window of a Neil Avenue residence and watches the action below. No litter needed with this kitty!

Polaris II

Some of the neon from the Polaris area. Note this is not actually the Polaris Fashion Place mall, which was closed at 11:30PM or so on a Saturday night. The Polaris area, for neoning purposes, extends from just east of the I-71 intersection, west to about Camden, and the Sancus/Lazelle areas. I covered the 'east Polaris' stretch several months ago, and the interior of the mall itself will be covered next time I am in the place. Most of the neon in this area is chain related homogeny, but there are a few hidden gems and surprises. All pics taken the very late evening of Sat. 9/20.

The night that the lights went out..

While nothing like 2005 with the likes of Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and so on, this has been a particularly harsh hurricane season. Major hurricanes have hit much of the Carribean, The gulf coast of the southeastern US, and Ohio. Yep, I said Ohio. The month started with hurricane Gustav slamming into Louisiana with fears of another Katrina. It was bad, but not nearly as bad as feared. Last weekend, hurricane Ike hit the Houston and Galveston areas of Texas as a strong category two hurricane. This was not pretty. Millions are still without power, thousands lost homes, and dozens lost lives. And the unusual thing about this storm, when the remnants travelled north into the midwest as Tropical Depression Ike, it still packed quite a punch with wind and rain. It hit central Ohio just as a strong cold front was coming from the north and collided over central Ohio. It was probably the closest central Ohio will ever come to experiencing a hurricane. Trees, power lines, buildings have been damaged and some outright destroyed. And of course, power outages. The weather has been beautiful since that stormy Sunday but in much of the Columbus area, still powerless. I myself had power out for about 2 and half days. Of course, something we know and love neon runs on electricity that is not flowing in much of Ohio now..neon signs. I had hoped to get to maybe some more High Street and possibly the west side of the city for some neoning. Unfortunately, much of the power was still out in some of these areas. In 'honor' of the power (no pun intended) of Mother Nature and Father Time, my next post will pay tribute to neon that has gone dark..permanantly, yet still adorns the buildings and streets of Columbus. Today, I am showing a few bar specific neon signs from Gabby's Tavern on the north side of the city, which have sat on my camera for a while now. Watch for my next post. And perhaps by the end of the week, the lights will be on and glowing again for my next photo tour.

Peking in Action

Enjoy!

Grandview II

Way back when, around April, I walked along Grandview Avenue from W. 1st up north to W. 5th Avenue. I said I would be back. Well, some five months later, I returned! I walked a large part of W. 5th from about Fairview to Doten, and was in my car for everything else, including what I found on W. 3rd, Northwest Blvd, and King Avenue. Was a beautiful warm evening and I had a change of plans, so I thought, what the heck. I needed the exercise anyway! All pics taken the mid to late evening of 9/11.


I spotted these on King Avenue. Great old school neon at Gentile's. Old, Italian east coast type areas thrive on old fashioned neon!


One of the crown jewels of Columbus area neon signage. The classic Peking Dynasty, in all it's lit up glory. Actually there are four signs, the front facing sign is identical in both directions on W. 5th, and the parking lot sign in the back on the side street. Yes, this sign is animated and wait til my next post!!

Another Grandview classic. Rife's Market at the corner of W. 5th and Grandview Ave. I snapped this just under the awning and it came out great!


Yet more old school neon in Grandview. A.K. Menendian Rug. Beautiful and simple sign.








More West Fifth Avenue goodness! And HA! to the Subway at Northwest and Fifth..some Subways DO have neon, unlike their sister store on campus! The Mark Pi installation is still more interesting though, with it's faux Chinese character lighting up the night!




These were south of fifth avenue, mostly along W. 3rd. The sign at Glenn and W. 3rd makes me think I am in Jersey, not Ohio!!


This interesting installation adorns the main enterance to a recently completed (last year sometime) midrise condo building, at the corner of Northwest, W. 3rd, and Virgina Avenues. Right next to Byrne's Pub. NOt too often does one find neon advertising residential property!


Marshall's on W. 1st Avenue in central Grandview. I have had many drinks, and some food here, though it has been a while. Was a hangout of ours back when I worked in Grandview, which hasn't been for two years or so.

Be on the lookout for the Peking Dynasty sign in motion. And some more High Street fun before the weather gets wintery, which sadly, isn't too far off.