Is the Elbo Room’s new sign too sexy for its own good?

It’s hard to miss the Elbo Room’s new sign: It’s a little bit pin-up girl retro, a little bit bikini bod bodacious and a lot of super sexy.

“It may be the best sign I’ve ever seen on top of a bar,” says Ross Hoyle, visiting the historic Fort Lauderdale beach bar from Alabama. “I think it’s awesome. “

The sign, which commemorates the Spring Break landmark bar’s 80th anniversary, went up last Thursday. The va-va-voomness is no accident.

“The boys kind of overruled me on doing it too retro,” says Michele Penrod, one of the bar’s owners, recalling the meeting with the artists who created the sculpted sign. “It’s our logo. I just thought it would be fun.”

In historical photos of the bar at the corner of Las Olas Boulevard and A1A, you can see a very different visual vibe.

Penrod’s father bought the Elbo Room in 1981, back when the signage had a retro balloon font.

“There used to be neon everywhere,” Penrod explains, nodding toward a neon sign depicting an iconic flamingo and palm tree in a port hole window on the Las Olas Boulevard side of the building. “But because of the turtle conservation we only have the one neon going this way.”

Amy Vulpis of Fort Lauderdale is more focused on the new sign.

“I think it’s great. I do,” she says as she snaps a photo. “I think it personifies Fort Lauderdale beach and that’s what people come here to see. They come here to see the blue water, the sunshine and all the beautiful people.”

JOHN MCCALL/SUN SENTINEL A new sign on display at Elbo Room in Fort Lauderdale. The bar had the sign put up as part of its recent 80th anniversary celebration.