Neon ‘Dancing Pig’ sign might boogie again
The 50-year-old “Dancing Pig” neon sign marking the former site of the Stephen’s Meat Products sausage factory at 105 S. Montgomery St. has been dark in recent years but may come out for another spin.
The Preservation Action Council last week launched a campaign to restore the porcine landmark to its former glory.
The neon pig with a bowtie around its neck did a simple jig for years, shuffling its hooves back and forth while promising “pure pork sausage” to passing travelers. Handcrafted by Electrical Products Corp. of California, the sign has become a beloved San Jose icon since the sausage factory opened in the 1950s.
The plant was torn down 10 years ago for a planned professional baseball park that didn’t pan out, so the publicly owned one-acre site has remained vacant ever since. At some point the prancing pig started to fizzle out before coming to a complete standstill.
“Pieces have been going out over the past two years,” Preservation Action Council Executive Director Brian Grayson said in an interview. “I don’t know when the dancing part finally finished, and of course, now it’s not dancing at all.”
Although there’s no immediate threat to the sign from development when Google eventually plants its roots in the area, Grayson said there’s no time to waste to repair and save it.
“It didn’t get much maintenance and continued to deteriorate,” he said about the sign’s “long and slow” decline. “If we wait much longer, there won’t be anything to save, so that’s the reason we started the
campaign.”
The agency that succeeded San Jose’s dismantled redevelopment agency owns the land and has supported the group’s efforts to save the sign, but Grayson said renovations require private funds. Hence, the Preservation Action Council’s fundraising campaign.
“It could be in the tens of thousands of dollars aside from general maintenance,” he said. “It really hasn’t been maintained in quite some time.”
Some of the work needed includes replacing neon tubes still filled with mercury and patching up some surprises found by a technician who inspected the sign last week.
“We didn’t realize from the ground, when he was up there, determined there were two bullet holes in the sign as well,” Grayson said.
Power still appears to be running to the sign, as indicated by a clicking sound at its base, giving hope to its fans that a day will come when the pig dances again.
Bassian Farms, which now owns the Stephens Meat Products brand, has already donated money toward the council’s cause, and Young Electric Sign Co. is slated to repair the power supply and lights.
The next step could be an effort to get the sign declared a historic landmark, but Grayson said that would require a nomination from the property owner, San Jose City Council or Historic Landmarks Commission.
Donations for renovating the Dancing Pig can be made at preservation.org/ pac_donate.html.
Contact Julia Baum at 408-200-1054.