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..