Neon Art

L.A.'s neon heritage

Cindy Chang hopped on a nighttime bus tour organized by the Museum of Neon Art [MONA] for the Los Angeles Times:

Los Angeles is often derided as a city with little sense of history, when in fact history is everywhere you turn — in the stately mansions of Hancock Park, the grand old facades of downtown office buildings, the Craftsman and Spanish-style bungalows sprinkled throughout the older suburbs.

When the sun sets each evening on the architecture, the history lesson does not end. Many of the neon signs atop the city's hotels, theaters and restaurants are decades old and offer a peek back at the city's diverse heritage. [more]

Raymond Chandler had this great quote in The Little Sister:

I smelled Los Angeles before I got to it. It smelled stale and old like a living room that had been closed too long. But the colored lights fooled you. The lights were wonderful. There ought to be a monument to the man who invented neon lights.

There's MONA in Downtown L.A. A great place to visit for its exhbitions, education, or simply inspiration.

photo Google Images & scan MONA