Visit to American Sign Museum worthy
America’s largest public sign museum a perfect idea for a day trip.
Who knew historic signage could be so fascinating and so colorful? A trip to the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, which is dedicated to sign preservation and restoration, will illuminate you. Here are seven reasons you’ve got to visit.
1. Age-old signs
The American Sign Museum covers American signage from the early 1900s to the 1950s. The tools of the early sign-making trade are displayed, as well as pre-electric and modern plastic-faced signs.
2. A big welcome
Before you even get inside the museum, you’ll be greeted by an over-sized hammer and walk under a turban-wearing genie holding a welcome sign.
3. Founding father
The museum was founded by Tod Swormstedt, an editor for Signs of the Times magazine, who wanted to preserve 3-D craftmanship. In 1999 Swormstedt founded the National Signs of the Times Museum, which re-opened as the American Sign Museum in 2005.
4. Target practice
Hundreds of vintage signs from across the country have been moved to the American Sign Museum and restored. But
some remain just as they were found, complete with bullet holes.
5. Crafts people at work
Neonworks of Cincinnati, a commercial neon shop, is located inside the museum. If you visit Wednesday through Friday, you can watch them
work.
6. Vintage neon
A streetscape filled with neon signs in the colors of the rainbow will transport you to another era. A sign for Kona Lanes from the 1950s was created for a Polynesian Tikithemed building in Mesa, Calif., and a McDonald’s sign built in 1963 is topped with the original McDonald’s mascot, “Speedee.”
7. Dayton’s Pizza King
A Vic Cassano’s Pizza King porcelain neon sign from the 1950s has been restored and is on display. The pizza chain was founded in Dayton in 1953 by Cassano and his mother-in-law, Caroline “Mom” Dinisi. The 1,000pound sign stands almost 14 feet tall.