San Francisco Neon

Survivors and Lost Icons

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Advance Praise

 

"Just when you thought you knew everything about San Francisco, along comes Al Barna's and Randall Ann Homan’s book, San Francisco Neon. With beautiful photography, paging through is like strolling down the streets of a familiar city with a new vantage point. You’ll never look at San Francisco streets in quite the same way again. If just one of these neon survivors gets saved from demolition, this book is a huge success."
—Andrew Danish, author of Palm Springs Weekend (Chronicle Books)

 

For some, a neon sign is a quick burst of color in their peripheral vision.  For others, it is art. For me, a neon sign has a larger significance. It is an important place marker in our collective history. The beautiful photographs in San Francisco Neon are pleasing to the eye but they also awaken my San Francisco pride. What would a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge be without the neon clock at the toll plaza? How attractive would the 500 Club be with a backlit plastic sign? When a neon sign disappears, not only is the visual landscape a whole lot duller, there’s one less bookmark in our unique story.
— Heather M. David, author of Mid-Century by the Bay

 

"...I have to confess that I have long envied San Francisco for its especially rich concentration of colorful and inventive neon-bedecked storefronts. San Francisco Neon captures the magic of these signs into a single glowing portfolio that will provide a lasting record of these important but endangered cultural landmarks".
— Thomas E. Rinaldi, author of New York Neon (W.W. Norton)

 

"This wonderful book offers a uniquely atmospheric tour of a world that is rapidly disappearing. It’s at once a gift to designers and a souvenir of the colorful night world of the City by the Bay. Some of the photographs have a cinematic quality, or inspire film noir reveries, with vibrant signs that beckon, warm and welcoming, to denizens of the night. One half expects to see Hopper’s Nighthawks illuminated in the glow. Tighter shots focus on whimsical details and the inventive compositions of the signs themselves. The photographers know San Francisco well, and deserve praise for capturing these charming and often remarkable signs with such affection and care."
— Richard Sala, author of Mad Night (Fantagraphics Books)

All photos and content © 2017 Giant Orange Press