A cocktail social, slide presentation, and film screening which highlights Cold War-era neon signs in Warsaw, Cuba, and San Francisco.
According to Al Barna of San Francisco Neon, the Castro Theater losing its neon sign would be like the city block losing its two front teeth.
“[The Castro Theater’s neon sign] is a landmark for the neighborhood, for the gay community, for the film community, and for social justice. Neon soaks up meaning and history, and makes a statement just by staying there and lighting up every night,” says Randall Ann Homan, co-founder of SF Neon with her husband, Al Barna. To Homan and Barna, neon signs are not just pieces of colored glass: they are sculpted artforms, cultural landmarks, and symbols of survival.
In places like mid-century Warsaw, Havana, and San Francisco, neon signs brought light, color, and aesthetics to dense metropolitan spaces—from the 1930s to the 1950s, Havana once had 140 neon-lit cinemas on Calle 23, the Cuban equivalent of Broadway. The Tenderloin, too, has an abundance of nearly 100 vintage neon signs, the highest concentration of neighborhood neon in San Francisco.
However, despite the divergent histories of each of these cities, mid-century neon served similar functions: they marked where people gathered, advertising goods, services and social spaces. And despite that much neon was lost in the wake of modernization and development, all three cities are experiencing neon restoration efforts by individuals and preservation organizations.
On November 14, the Tenderloin Museum will host a series of slide presentations and discussions which explore neon’s various forms and functions in Warsaw, Havana, and San Francisco. Featuring slides of Cuban neon from Tenderloin Museum Executive Director Katie Conry’s and Steven Spiegel of Signs United’s recent trips to Havana, audience members will have the opportunity to get an inside look at how vintage neon signs are surviving today. Preceding the slide presentations, SF Neon will give an overview of the current projects to restore vintage neon in San Francisco.
Lastly, following the slide presentations will be a screening of NEON, Eric Bednarski’s award-winning documentary on the neonization of Warsaw and Poland in the Cold War era. In this gorgeous film, Bednarski uncovers the remarkable Polish neon design of 1960s and 1970s in Warsaw, and asks: Was it possible to truly advertise in a system where shops were frequently empty and brands and services were state run? What distinguished “socialist” neon advertising from neon advertising on the other side of the Iron Curtain?
Doors: 6 p.m.
Cocktail social: 6:30 - 7 p.m. (featuring a special neon cocktail)
Slide presentations: 7 p.m.
Screening: 8 p.m.
Q&A session: 8:55 p.m.
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This program is in partnership with Tenderloin Neon A-Z, a collaboration between the Tenderloin Museum, SF Neon, and San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) to restore neon signs in the Tenderloin neighborhood in an effort to illuminate this historic neighborhood.
Cover photo by Steven Spiegel of Signs United.