From K-QED. It's Bay Curious Time. Let's turn on the lights.

Most of the street lights and signs around San Francisco today are LED's. But back in the day it was neon

that made the city glow. When you think of neon signs you probably imagine New York's

Times Square or the strip in Las Vegas. But reporter Sargena Roseblot found

San Francisco was once a glow with neon two. Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, still family owned, operated, and argued over.

Explore their brews wherever fine beverages are sold and taste how trailblazing runs in the family.

Visit Sierra Nevada.com to find your new favorite beer today. Let's go back to the 1950s. A time when Elvis Presley ruled the airwaves, men and women were saddle shoes, and Neon was everywhere.

Every commercial corridor was just studded with Neon.

It's just amazing the amount of neon that San Francisco had.

And not just movie theaters or restaurants, but really dentists and drugstores and chiropractors.

El Barna and Randall Holman are art historians and huge neon enthusiasts.

And because San Francisco signs are so close to the sidewalk,

we have small intimate signs rather than big signs that are meant to be seen from the freeway.

Each neighborhood even had its own style.

Chinatown has a unique style of sign.

They're bilingual.

Right, and you've got Chinese characters in neon.

Which really lend themselves to being designed in neon,

whether it's a single stroke or an outline.

In the mission, the signs are bigger. Like you have the 500 Club,

you have the new mission theater, the Roxy Theater. Those are all really big signs.

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