FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A New Book Lights Up San Francisco’s Streetscape – San Francisco Neon
Tells a Colorful Tale of the City’s History
SAN FRANCISCO (2015) – They are as much a part of the San Francisco landscape as the bay, the cable cars, and the city’s
spectacular views. But despite their enticingly bright presence, they are often overlooked.
Not anymore. With the publication of a new book, San Francisco Neon: Survivors and Lost Icons, authors Al Barna and
Randall Ann Homan shed new light on the backdrop and the history of the city’s neon signs, the luminous beacons that
help tell the story of the town’s neighborhoods, its nightlife and its fun-loving nature.
“The San Francisco we usually think of is a bird’s eye view of hills and architecture,’’ Homan said. “We wanted to present a
view of the city from the sidewalk, looking up at these remarkable neon signs that are an integral part of the urban
landscape.’’
The couple spent five years working on the project, searching out the city’s vast patchwork of neon signs, dating back to
the 1930s Art Deco era, like the Vogue and the Curran theaters “blade’’ signs. While the book displays more than 200
classic neon signs still lighting up San Francisco’s diverse neighborhoods from the Marina to the Mission, one of the
unfortunate discoveries of the book’s research was how many great works of neon art have been lost over the decades.
“Even in the five years since we started work on the book, dozens of neon signs have been removed from the city’s
landscape,’’ Barna said. “It’s our hope that this book will serve as a catalyst for San Franciscans to preserve legacy neon
signs.’’
As San Francisco Neon so vividly illustrates, the signs represent many of the places where generations of city residents have
met to watch movies, drink martinis, buy raviolis and even park cars. Some of the iconic signs include the sleepy moon at
the Nite Cap, the laughing chef at Original Joe’s and the neon fish which reminded tourists what Alioto’s restaurant features
at Fisherman’s Wharf.
The neon signs dotting San Francisco’s landscape cover just about every conceivable business and cut across almost all
cultures and lifestyles, whether they are high-end hotels or small mom-and-pop markets. Neon graced the fronts of motor
lodges, auto dealerships, liquor stores, funeral parlors and of course, dive bars. What could be more enticing than a large,
red, tilted martini glass? Depending on the hour, maybe an oversized donut splashing into a cup of coffee.
As the authors discovered, neon signs made even the most mundane storefront memorable. The appeal of neon at night is
the atmosphere it creates, where even a quiet street could be turned into a movie set. And neon art reminds us of our past,
representing decades of survival against all odds and the onslaught of relentless gentrification.
San Francisco Neon tells a story that punctuates the night sky and lures us to experience a disappearing side of San
Francisco. They may seem like relics from the past, but they continue to sparkle in the neighborhoods and destinations that
make San Francisco such a quirky, colorful city of lights.
This edition of San Francisco Neon: Survivors and Lost Icons (Giant Orange Press) includes:
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San Francisco/photography essay by local award-winning travel writer Tom Downs
Neon preservation essay by neon sign art expert Eric Lynxwiler
Endnotes section with local stories, oral history, and details on 45 iconic neon signs.
Index by neighborhood to give readers a sense of which neighborhoods still have clusters of neon,
and which neighborhoods have lost all but one or two surviving signs
Publisher: Giant Orange Press
ISBN: 978-0-692-29907-4
Number of pages: 160
Number of images: 200
Images from the book available upon request.
Contacts and Links
Randall Ann Homan, randallannhoman@gmail.com; 415.272.7623
Al Barna, al_barna@yahoo.com; 415.350.7718
For more information about the book, visit neonbook.xyz
To view a short film on why we made this book: http://www.neonbook.xyz/more.html
Biographies
Al Barna is a San Francisco photographer and artist whose work has been shown in exhibitions at the de Young Museum, the Legion of
Honor Museum, the Rayko Gallery, and the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery. His photography has been published in The Sun
Magazine and Shots Magazine. www.albarna.com
Randall Ann Homan began her interest in the folk art of signage in the last century as an apprentice sign painter in Flagstaff, Arizona. She
now lives in San Francisco and is an art director, photographer, and an award-winning graphic designer. She has designed books for Ten
Speed Press and Harper Collins. www.giantorangepress.com
Tom Downs is the author of Walking San Francisco (Wilderness Press) and an award-winning edition of Lonely Planet’s New Orleans, along
with many other books and articles having to do with places, built environments, culture, and history. www.tomdowns.xyz
Eric Lynxwiler has lectured on neon signs at the San Francisco Architectural Heritage lecture series and is the cruise host of the Museum of
Neon Art’s Neon (MONA) Tour of Los Angeles. He has saved numerous neon signs from the dustbin, and serves as a MONA Board Member
Emeritus.
Press and advance praise for San Francisco Neon
A celebration of San Francisco’s neon signs, old and new, historic and endangered.
—Carl Nolte column, San Francisco Chronicle
Lush photography book illuminates San Francisco’s neon history...
—Jim Van Buskirk, SF Examiner
Husband-and-wife photographer team hope to draw attention to San Francisco’s remaining neon masterpieces…
—David Weinstein on the Eichler Network
Just when you thought you knew everything about San Francisco, along comes Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan’s book, San Francisco
Neon. With beautiful photography, paging through is like strolling down the streets of a familiar city with a new vantage point. You’ll never
look at San Francisco streets in quite the same way again. If just one of these neon survivors gets saved from demolition, this book is a huge
success.
— Andrew Danish, author of Palm Springs Weekend (Chronicle Books)
"I have to confess that I have long envied San Francisco for its especially rich concentration of colorful and inventive neon-bedecked
storefronts. San Francisco Neon captures the magic of these signs into a single glowing portfolio that will provide a lasting record of these
important but endangered cultural landmarks".
—Thomas E. Rinaldi, author of New York Neon (W.W. Norton)
For some, a neon sign is a quick burst of color in their peripheral vision. For others, it is art. For me, a neon sign has a larger significance. It is
an important place marker in our collective history. The beautiful photographs in San Francisco Neon are pleasing to the eye but they also
awaken my San Francisco pride. What would a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge be without the neon clock at the toll plaza? When a
neon sign disappears, not only is the visual landscape a whole lot duller, there’s one less bookmark in our unique story.
— Heather M. David, author of Mid-Century by the Bay (CalMod Books)
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