High Praise Indeed

Much about contemporary life calls to mind the adage “They don’t make them like they used to.” Even building signs, judging from the photographs in “L.A. Sign Structures,” an exhibit at the Museum of Neon Art. Mark Swope’s black-and-white images of historic rooftop signs in downtown and Hollywood celebrate a complex construction and majestic presence that are sadly rare these days.

“Now we have these rolled canvas billboards,” Swope says, “but [the signs in the exhibit] actually have an architectural component.” The dozen pieces on view reveal massive, maze-like frameworks forged in steel, all more than two stories tall. A couple of photographs capture the huge lettering and geometric skeleton of the 1926 Orpheum Theater beacon as it casts an imposing shadow on a nearby wall downtown.

Swope, a Santa Monica resident, also was drawn to the perspective available at rooftop level. “You’re seeing the city from this completely new vantage point.” In contrast with the signs’ massive presence as seen up close, the one sign shot from ground level, the colossal Broadway Hollywood building marker, circa 1931, appears almost miniaturized at the corner of Hollywood and Vine.

Though the pictures were snapped between 2001 and 2002, there’s a distinctly vintage feel to them. Swope strove to omit date indicators because he “likes the ambiguity.” It’s not immediately clear whether the photos of the Rosslyn and Million Dollar hotels date from their glorious 1920s heyday or their current dilapidated environment on Skid Row. “There’s a certain romanticism to the signs,” Swope says. “Even though their time has passed, they have pretty much been left untouched. They still exist, lighting up the streets every night.”

A former painter and furniture designer, Swope started taking photographs in 1999. This is his first show in the medium, and he credits MONA executive director Kim Koga for introducing him to the subject matter. Koga had been visiting rooftop marquees for an unrelated preservation project and invited Swope to come along. “The museum’s mission is to document the old while exhibiting the new, and Mark’s photographs do just that,” Koga says.

Swope is the son of actress Dorothy McGuire and photographer John Swope, whose own images of neon signs were exhibited by MONA in 2001. He was a well-known freelancer for Life magazine before his death in 1979. His work also has been shown at LACMA and Bergamot Station’s Craig Krull Gallery.

So how do the two sets of sign photographs compare? “They’re very different,” says the younger Swope, who archives his father’s collection. “He shot at night, so bright neon was the focus. I’m more interested in the structural aspects. There’s really nothing like it today.”

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“L.A. Sign Structures,” through Sept. 14, at the Museum of Neon Art, 501 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite 101, Los Angeles; (213) 489-9918.