The humongous Budweiser neon sign that sits along Highway 40 / Interstate 64 in St. Louis was relighted last week — including the eagle’s flapping wings — after it went dark for about a year.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported this about the restoration of the sign, which sits along the highway near Grand Boulevard:
The eagle stands 32 feet high, and the illusion of it taking flight is created by LED lights replacing the original mile of neon tubing.
The sign cost around $350,000 to build in 1953 and was originally erected on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. It came to St. Louis in 1962 and received an earlier renovation in 1997.
This local TV station did a report on it:
Locals have told me that many years ago, the eagle would take flight only when a player for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team would hit a home run. Naturally, this would induce fans to park along the interstate on game days, listen to broadcasts on KMOX radio, and wait for the moment to come. For obvious traffic-safety reasons, Anheuser Busch stopped this practice.
And, yes, this sign isn’t on Route 66 (unless there’s yet another obscure St. Louis alignment I’ve overlooked). But so many Route 66 fans are fans of neon. And this is a spectacular one.
—
Very nice!