Man’s Hobby of Collecting Neon Lights Brightens Up His Life

Jordan Goodman collects just about anything--magic posters, bronze dogs, even Hawaiian shirts. But it’s neon signs that really light up his life.

Goodman, 27, an office equipment salesman, has been collecting things since he was 17.

His oldest neon sign is from Owl Cleaners and dates back to the 1940s.

“I’ve got 14 neon clocks from among the 50 neon pieces in the house,” he said, referring to the home he shares with his wife and child.

“The large pieces, such as the Sherwin-Williams paint, Mohawk and Flying A gasoline signs, I’ve put on loan to Josie at Neon Neon for her gallery.”

“Josie” is Josie Crawford, 31, who started Neon Neon, a firm that makes neon signs, 3 1/2 years ago.

“I remember when I came to San Francisco seven years ago, neon was dead,” said Crawford, a native New Yorker. “Some friends couldn’t understand why I wanted to apprentice at something that didn’t seem to have a future. I told them it was the only job I could stand.”

Neon signs, first seen in the United States in 1923 when a Los Angeles auto dealer put one up over his showroom, ran into problems in the 1950s when incandescent and fluorescent-illuminated signs took over on streets and corners. Then television became the leading visual advertising medium.

Neon’s enjoying a comeback. Once thought tacky, neon now is considered elegant and an art form. The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art replaced its Plexiglas street sign with one in pink neon.

Crawford’s company currently employees eight people and has a three-week backlog of orders with 80 percent of the business commercial. A simple “vacancy” sign costs around $500.

Crawford, a serious exhibiting neon artist herself, plans to open a public gallery this fall.

Goodman says there are more and more people collecting neon signs.

“Ten years ago , I could walk into a liquor store and buy a whiskey or beer neon for $20 that was originally given to the store by the product’s distributor. Today, $100 is usually the opening figure.”

Goodman says collecting the signs is a “driving thing.”

“I sell them, so I can go and search out more.”

What he really wants is “the old Hamm’s Brewery sign that was on the building you could see while driving out of the city.”

“Finding that would be a coup.”