The Hiatus

Hello everyone this is Columbusneon. Just want to apologize for my lack of posts as of late. The last few months have been a very trying time for me as I am going through some personal issues related to relationships. And I have not had much time nor desire to neon as of late. Once I get back on my feet I will be back, hopefully sooner rather than later and will be showcasing more of the great new and classic neon signage that Cbus has to offer. I hope everyone has had a great Thanksgiving and has a happy holiday season.

Hot summer days, cool neon lights.

     I admit that despite my initial gung ho-ness I had at the beginning of the summer, I have been pretty lazy about neoning despite the lack of bad weather. Unless you consider heat to be bad weather, as we have had plenty of that this summer. Too much personal stuff going on. Despite this I was able to get a few photo ops in over the summer, including another road trip, which was shortened by my camera's dying battery. So this post is a roundup of what I managed to shoot during June, July, and August. It's not a lot but I did get a few goodies in. The good news is that we will be heading into the fall, which is my favorite season to shoot neon. The nights are often comfortable and cool and the sun sets early. Hopefully I will be able to get a few good tours in and the crown jewel of Columbus neon signage, the Short North. For now, enjoy the pics of summer, descriptions follow.

Set 1: Beer Dock East, in Whitehall. Hard to snap the neon in here and I didn't want the employees to get mad at me for snapping pictures of their signs. Cool signs though. Taken the evening of Thurs. 06/14.

 Set 2: Inside the "Beer Cave" at the Bellstores/Marathon at Feder and Hilliard-Rome Road. Nice little cache of neon for a gas station. Taken the evening of Sat. 07/07. Set 3: Just one pic I noticed while in the Polaris area. Park Avenue Cleaners. Taken Sun. 07/08. Set 4: The neon inside Nasty's, a sports bar and grill in Hilliard. It is FAR from nasty. The wings are awesome and every once in a while they have all-you-can-eat wings on Saturdays, which is why I was here that afternoon. Taken the afternoon of Sat. 07/28. There is another sign or two in here that was not lit..next time I am there I will shoot it, hopefully. Set 5: Nail salon in Galloway. Was at Sloopy's, just next door and noticed this rather elegant, newer installation. Taken the night of Sat. 08/04. Set 6: Cleveland road trip! I was in Cleveland for the Red Sox/Indians game this evening and had hoped to catch some good neon. Well unfortunately, like my road trips to Cincinnati, my batteries did not cooperate. But I was able to get some cool shots. Most of these are from Tower City, a large urban mall in downtown Cleveland which also serves as the RTA transit hub, as well as a direct link to other downtown Cleveland attractions like the new casino, QC Arena, and Progressive Field. I would have loved to have taken more, but my battery was at less than 15%. Also included in this is Panini's, bar and restaurant a block or so from Progressive Field. Notice the sports themed neon that hangs around Tower City. Wicked awesome! Wish I had been able to snap it all. I have to be honest..I actually was again in Cleveland less than a month later, but again, low battery :( All pics in this set taken the evening of Thurs. 08/09. Set 7: Cleveland trip, continued. Actually these pics are not from Cleveland but the Marc's grocery store in the suburb of N. Olmsted, close to our hotel. All of the department signs are NEON! All in this set taken the afternoon of Fri. 08/10. Look for more pics soon! Hope everyone had a great summer..

Best Massage in Town

Non-Latin neon script is hard to in Columbus, but I have been able to find a few exampled here and there. This is an Asian themed massage parlor, which I first came across a month or two ago. The script..I am not sure..it's odd. Even with my rather sizable amount of linguistic knowledge, I can't make out a lot of it. It looks like a combination of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese characters. In any case, I love this installation even if it is faux-Asian. Love the feet and the website URL ALL in neon! They could have went LED or cheap plastic crappola (I forgive their OPEN sign just because of the awesomeness of the neon). I snapped it during early evening when it was still late out, watched the Sox at BDubs, and was thankfully still on when I left so I went back and snapped it at dark. Both pics taken the evening/night of Tue. 5/29.

Another Cincy area trip, and a few extras

My semi annual trip to the Cincinnati area produced a few more neon photos than my last one. Most of these pics are from the Newport on the Levee area. Enjoy!

The Red Bull sign, the first in this post, was at Arnie's. The Art on the Levee, DEB, Dewey's, and Jefferson Hall were all at Newport on the Levee. Elberts was on Monmouth Street in Newport..very cool old meat store sign. The Pharmacy was taken a bit south of downtown Newport, near South Gate, KY. Those were all taken on Sat. 5/5. The "RESTROOMS" sign was taken at Pizzeria Uno in Dublin, OH on the afternoon of Friday, 5/11. They had a much cooler sign inside as well but was not lit. I asked them to turn it on and they told me it was on the fritz. Boo. It's going to be HOT this week..time for some warm evening neoning!

South Campus Gateway Part I, and a few extras

I did this short mini-tour of the South Campus Gateway area back at the end of March. It was daytime/daylight so I will definitely be back for a night time tour (hence why this post is labeled as Part I). Some great neon here, but it was a bit melancholy, as this is a completely different place compared to when I was a student at OSU some 15+ years ago. Either way, I captured some good shots, including the iconic Longs Bookstore neon sign and clock. Even though Longs really only exists in memory, as it is now a Barnes and Noble. All Gateway photos taken the late afternoon/early evening of Fri. 3/30.

That Long Sign is amazing..I have admired that for nearly 20 years now. Here are a few other things I've been able to shoot over the last month or so:

The beer case/display at the Dublin/Perimeter Loop Giant Eagle, off of Avery Road. Used to be a Big Bear. Taken the afternoon of Fri. 04/06.

The 343 Bar in the Arena District, formerly The Frog Bear and Wild Boar. Taken Sat. 04/07. Look for a tour soon. Awesome weather and opportunities coming up!