Neon museum salutes Edmonton’s history
Brick wall a riot of colour from the 20 historical corporate signs it holds
EDMONTON— Dusk is the best time to visit a unique museum in this city’s core.
It’s open 24 hours a day, but the dwindling light at dusk enhances the allure of Canada’s only neon sign museum. This museum was merely a long, boring brick wall on 104th St. at 104th Ave. until David Holdsworth envisioned it as a gallery to salute Edmonton’s corporate history. Today the wall is a riot of colours from the 20 historical neon signs it holds.
The signs are all retired and many of them saved from the scrap heap after decades of marking the locations of some of Edmonton’s best-known and oldest businesses.
Holdsworth is an urban designer in Edmonton’s heritage department. He tries to persuade local building owners and developers to preserve and restore their edifices rather than tearing them down — or at least try to incorporate some of the old into the new structure.
Marv Haydon opened a large furniture store on 80th Ave. in 1964. By 1966 the store’s neon sign was the talk of the town. It depicted grandma sitting in a moving rocking chair. Occasionally she was replaced by a rabbit at Easter or Santa Claus at Christmas.
The store is now long gone, but grandma is still rocking on 104th St.
She was Holdsworth’s first target when he decided Edmonton’s neon history should be preserved. The family donated grandma — fully restored to her original splendour — to this unique museum.
Col. Mustard’s Canteen was a charming little eatery opened on 124th St. in 1955 by Brad and Carla Pipella. It operated for 18 years until a broken water main closed the street and eventually led to the destruction of the little shop. Its famous sign across the entire front of the little restaurant still glows brightly on 104th St.
John Stanton couldn’t find a proper pair of running shoes in Edmonton in1984, so he looked further afield. He brought a much wider selection into town and started selling them from a converted living room in an old house.
His Running Room store grew into North America’s largest chain of specialty running stores with more than 100 outlets in Canada and the United States. The neon sign welcoming runners to that original oneroom store now hangs on 104th St.
John “Mike” Michaels started selling newspapers on the corner of Jasper Ave. and 1st St. in 1912. Eventually he opened a shop on that corner and by1934 it featured one of the city’s most memorable neon signs — Mike’s News & Smokes.
The sign has a guy reading the Toronto Star Weekly with his hat showing above the newspaper and his crossed legs below the paper with one foot contently dangling.
Mike could get any newspaper for a customer and carried many of North America’s principal newspapers. His newsstand became a renowned hang out and the story of Mike’s shop is told on a plaque on the 104th St. wall.
The previously blank wall is the back wall of a TELUS telephone-switching centre. TELUS approved the neon museum as long as it didn’t interfere with its electronic operations inside, said Holdsworth.
He now has 20 signs up on the TELUS wall and three smaller ones on another nearby building.
All the signs were voluntarily refurbished and restored by members of the Alberta Sign Association and its members erected the signs on the TELUS wall free of charge.
Prince Charles hasn’t visited the neon museum, but he is aware of it. He met with Holdsworth and former mayor Stephen Mandel in 2009 to present the city with the Prince of Wales Award for its efforts to preserve its historic places.