The Bowry Boys Episode 243, New York, in neon.

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Hi there, welcome to The Bowry Boys. This is Greg Young. Tom Myers is off this week.

However, I will have a Tom with me on this show.

I will explain that in a second. This episode is really about a very subtle feature of New York

City at night. It's about that moment when you're walking down a street at night and you have

bright lights coming from car headlamps, those orangey glowing street lamps above you, and

maybe some crazy LED light banners that are hanging over bedega.

And there across the street you see the elegant red glow of a neon sign from a parking lot

or a late night bar. Neon is classic New York, existing in another era, and no amount of

hyper gentrification can spoil it. In this show, I'll briefly take a look at some early classic

signage in New York City. Like what kinds of signs you might have seen back in Old New York.

All leading up to the introduction of neon signs in the 1920s. So we'll start with an overview

of what advertising was like back before 1920. You'll be surprised to hear how insanely

messy it all was. Then I'll talk with author Thomas Renaldi, that's the aforementioned other

Tom. Thomas Renaldi, author of the blog New York Neon, to understand what it is about neon that

is so essentially New York. And finally, because most neon is made by human hands in workshops around

the city, we will actually head out to one, out to ridjewood queens to visit one of New York's

most famous neon sign makers, artistic neon. From glowing crucifixes and hills kitchen to the

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