This recently restored Manning’s Coffee Store rooftop neon sign in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles was relighted during a ceremony Tuesday afternoon.
This video from the Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch shows the switch being thrown:
The fellow on the right helping the munchkin drop the switch is Scott Piotrowski, author of the “Finding the End of the Mother Road: Route 66 in Los Angeles County” guidebook (which, alas, doesn’t appear to be available at this time). Piotrowski is holding his son, Sam.
Martha Benedict shot several dozen photos at the ceremony, including this one of the sign.
Manning’s Coffee went out of business in the 1960s, and the sign’s neon lighting hadn’t functioned for many years. A cost-share grant from the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program helped restore the sign. It’s believed the sign dates to 1933.
Las Cazuelas restaurant occupies the building.
The area is part of the North Figueroa Street corridor in Los Angeles, which had Route 66 from 1931 to 1934 and again from 1936 to 1960.
Nearby, the Highland Theatre rooftop sign was restored and relit to much fanfare in May.
UPDATE: I altered the code so the video wouldn’t automatically play every dadgum time the page is loaded.
UPDATE2: The Bell Gardens Sun posted a good story about the relighting, including these interesting tidbits:
Manning’s was a leading chain of cafeterias and restaurants with 40 locations in nine western states, 19 of which were located in Los Angeles, according to sign restoration organizers.
In fact, today’s Starbucks are modeled after Manning’s in the West Coast, according to local historic preservationist Nicole Possert.
“This roof top sign in Highland Park is the last remaining evidence of Manning’s Coffee in the entire City of Los Angeles, it’s the only sign that we have found keeping that piece of history connected to California, the West coast,” Possert said at the relighting ceremony on Tuesday.
UPDATE3: Here’s a new video about the relighting ceremony:
Um, Sam = adorable.
Great that another landmark has been saved. On a similar note: there is a meeting to discuss the relighting of “Yukon’s Best Flour” sign on top of the mill later this month. Hope to see some action on it.
Also; while Scott’s book is out of print I found one used on Amazon recently. It is an awesome reference work.
another link found this morning at https://thearroyosecojournal.com/?p=21 which will relate to the last video Ron updated.
RE my book… it is out of print at this time, and until I can find a publisher, I will not be able to reprint it (the first two editions were self-published and self-distributed). But I can always be contacted by email with any LA area questions and will provide tours on occasion if desired