neon info

Anybody have any info on a neon sign maker in the Los Angeles area. or So Cal? I am making a sign and would like to use somebody that comes recommended.

Depending on what you're going for, you could also try a product called Plexineon, by iLight. http://www.ilight-tech.com/products_signs.htm

It's a plastic housing with bright LEDs inside that gives the illusion of neon.

You might contact the owner of the Puka Bar in Long Beach and find out who made the sign they've got out front.
Or try contacting the Purple Orchid and find out who made their neon tiki.

If I can see what you are looking at doing - I could offer a direct recommendation. You could email me a sketch or something.

Neon is not all the same - gasses, tube (colored or clear where the gas itself makes the color but nothing shows when the lighting is 'off'), dia. of glass, etc. Then there are rubber booties, PK's, glass housings.............. All the stuff needed so that you are UL (underwriters lab - electrical code compliant) and don't start a flaming area that used to be a roof over or around a tikihead. Reds, pinks, orangey colors are especially tricky......... taking expertise in the 'burn in' period.

To see what bad is, go visit the casino complex off of the 91 around Avalon - Alameda between the 110 & 91. The interior neon borders along the ceiling soffits are awful.......... color is not consistent like it should be.

As a former professional designer & art director for a mid-sized elecrical sign co. in LA & the SE US - I know people & fabricators & am speaking from experience over 25 years.

Puka Room sign might have been made by T&T neon on cherry above PCH (just a guess). Nice sign BTW.

da treetiki wahine

sorry you're not closer. i'd do it for you.

Yhanks for the tips peeps. What I am doing is recreating an old motel sign off of highway 1 in Ventura county. It is in the shape of a missle and has a neon border along the perimeter. I am going to mount this on a 16' wall I have in my living room. Sign is going to be about 6' long or so. I guess it doesn't have to be neon. just look like it. I'll do a photo shop thing and post it to help show what I have planned. Thanks again folks!

You can also check out this LED product from Rose Brand, a theatrical supplier:
http://www.rosebrand.com/A_Com/showprod.cfm?&DID=6&CATID=8&ObjectGroup_ID=325

there are a couple of LED lighting suppliers / manufacturers in the LA area (torrance) - and some of what I saw (tuesday) at LEDTronics on Kashiwa Ct. might work. they have sort of chain lights that are used in tube / strips & they also have clusters that are spaced about 4.25" on center that emulate neon inside of a channel letter.........
With that stuff - you could probably make the electrical lighting yourself.

I could make the cabinet toat that it pop rivets together or uses self tapping sheet metal screws - it sounds FUN!!

http://www.thomasnet.com/nsearch.html?which=prod&cov=NA&what=Diodes%3A+Light+Emitting+%28LED%27s%29&heading=23240161&manu=&dist=&serv=&rep=&cust=&iso=&ecats=&cads=&brandid=&cap=&navsec=modify&radius=15&zip=90731

If you're not dead set on using neon, I like the way acrylic looks when it's lit from the edge-- the light sort of travels through it, almost like fiber optics. Very cool little trick. Mr Tiki's in San Diego uses that effect to light the A-frame structure connecting the dining room and bar.