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I just read over at the Portland Mercury that the Hung Far Low sign is actively being restored and will return to its original location. The PDC, Portland’s little own gold card, is pitching in $12,000 towards the renovation and the owner is looking to raise an additional $18,000 to get the sign restored and returned.
I’m glad others have nostalgia about such ornaments. If we’re keeping the buildings, keep the signs.
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I love keeping the sign simply for the “te-he” factor.
However, I just don’t get your “keep the signs” viewpoint. If we were to do that, you would have 1 of 2 scenario’s: new businesses couldn’t put up their sign, replacing the old businesses or you will litter the outside of our buildings with both old and new business signs.
Is that really what you want?
Also, whats up with a $40k restoration project. I’ll do it for $30k!
I think it is more than the “te he” factor. Downtown is loosing its character. My comment was a little statement on what we keep and what we allow to be torn down. As I have stated in the past in comments, I feel that if we as a city keep allowing everything old to be replaced by something new, we’ll become stale and boring. We need nostalgia. We need old signs and old buildings to remind us of where we came from. The Chinatown today is no longer the Chinatown Portland had when we put up the Chinatown gate, but we should try and at least remember that this area was once a place where migrants flocked and succeeded.
Yeah, 40k. Wow. When I think about it, it is probably mostly transport, cranes and labor. The sign wasn’t in that bad of condition considering its age.
Every time I turn the corner of 84 to the Hollywood district, I miss the 7-Up sign with the bottle that filled the glass with bubbles. Yes, new businesses need to be able to put up new signs to mark their place, but the Budwiser sign there now is certainly not as interesting or fun. (And, the Budwiser sign doesn’t mark business place, it was a case of having a permit for a big sign…) Yes, it’s about heritage, but on the other hand I love the new Saucebox sign with the monkey’s, too. Sometimes it’s more about being interesting.
@djtv the 7-up sign sat atop what was once a giant milk bottle. In fact, the big milk bottle still exists underneath a facade that was put up to resemble cans of paint when it was a paint store, before the 7-up sign went up.
http://hollywood.pdx.edu/html/roadside_architecture.html
Which just goes to show you… getting all nostalgic is like peeling an onion. I say let’s tear all this human-made shit down and replant a native forest.
Very cool to see the old version of the building that I now work in.
I’m glad it’s gonna stay. As far as preserving signage, it’s clear that we can’t, and don’t preserve every bit of insignificant signage. But when something like this soaks into the character of the city and possesses a unique charm, it adds a flavor to the city.
Portland’s willingness to preserve things like this is part of what makes it great, which is why I don’t understand the idea of tearing down Memorial Coliseum.
There is a Re-Erect Hung Far Low campaign at http://www.ReErectHungFarLow.com
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