Chez Paree (Gone)
San Francisco, CA
Photo courtesy Kallisti

Check out the bright neon at Chez Paree in San Francisco. This place belonged to a city nightlife scene where the entertainment started out on the sidewalk, with glowing marquees competing for attention before anyone stepped through the door.

The club’s famous giant dancing-leg sign had quite a traveling act of its own. Photographs show it advertising the Barbary Coast nightclub on Pacific Avenue as early as 1939, before it moved to Mason Street and received the Chez Paree lettering. Old bulb sockets beneath the newer lettering helped neon historians figure out that these were the same sign.

There was a little Hollywood work along the way, too. The leg appeared in Pal Joey in 1957 and The Laughing Policeman in 1973. Apparently, an oversized roadside dancer didn’t need much help landing a background role.

UPDATE: The old Chez Paree locations have closed, and the giant leg disappeared from the streetscape. Quite a disappearing act for a sign about a story and a half tall. 10-26

Frank Andrews Used Cars (Gone)
Roseville, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Here’s a little nighttime showroom shine at Frank Andrews Used Cars in Roseville. Check out the glowing “Safe Buy” emblem alongside the dealership lettering. The cars might have been parked for the evening, but the neon was still making its sales pitch.

There was a long family history behind the name. Frank Andrews began his Roseville auto dealership on Atlantic Street in 1945 after returning from World War II. He and his wife Louise went on to operate Andrews Lincoln-Mercury for more than 50 years.

The used-car sign captures a familiar piece of that earlier dealership scenery. Rows of automobiles, bright lot lights, and a neon promise overhead. Even someone with no plans to trade in the family car could find something worth checking out.

UPDATE: The Andrews dealership’s history reaches back to 1945, although an exact closing date for the photographed used-car operation hasn’t turned up. The old “Safe Buy” glow makes a fine reminder of Roseville’s earlier car lots. 10-26

Albany Bowl (Closed)
Albany, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Check out the neon welcome at Albany Bowl, located in, yes, Albany. The big lettering helped turn a night of bowling into a roadside attraction before the first ball even reached the lane.

The bowling alley opened in 1949 and became a longtime gathering place for leagues, birthday parties, and casual evenings out. There were billiards and a cocktail bar, too, giving visitors a few ways to spend the night if their bowling game wasn’t cooperating. The place even had a larger-than-life bowling-pin mascot called Mr. Pin. Between the neon outside and a walking bowling pin inside, this wasn’t a business that kept its theme a secret.

UPDATE: Albany Bowl permanently closed in December 2020 after 71 years, following the prolonged pandemic shutdowns. Housing plans were approved for the property in 2021, but an August 2026 report said construction had yet to begin. Another familiar bowling stop with its lanes gone quiet. 10-26

Coronet Portraits (Gone)
Sacramento, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Check out the flowing neon lettering at Coronet Portraits in Sacramento. This streamlined sign gave the portrait studio a little nighttime glamour, with a bird perched above the lettering. A pretty good invitation to watch the birdie before heading inside.

Noel Goursolle Jr. opened the studio in 1953, and Coronet became a familiar name on Sacramento school and yearbook photographs. When the business moved in 1958, the sign went along, bringing its roadside personality to another storefront.

UPDATE: The sign was taken down and donated to the Center for Sacramento History in 2008. It was restored and installed inside Golden 1 Center in 2016 alongside five other historic Sacramento signs. This portrait studio’s neon found another audience. 10-26

Pic-n-Pac Liquors
Berkeley, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Right off old Highway 40, check out the glowing sign for Pic-N-Pac Liquors in Berkeley. The flowing “Pic” and “Pac” lettering, little “n” in between, and curved crest give this marquee plenty of personality. That red casing makes a fine backdrop for the bright neon. Quite a roadside delight for a neighborhood liquor store.

Standing at San Pablo Avenue and Gilman Street, the shop catches both neighborhood customers and traffic along the old highway corridor. This is the sort of corner where an ordinary shopping stop comes with something extra for the sign hunter. The merchandise is inside, but the nighttime attraction hangs above the sidewalk.

The Pic-N-Pac name also recalls an earlier East Bay network of grocery and liquor stores. This Berkeley location carried more than bottles over the years, appearing under grocery-and-meat market names as well. A handy neighborhood stop with a sign that could advertise the place long after daylight disappeared.

UPDATE: Pic-N-Pac continues operating at the Gilman Street corner, and the vintage blade sign remains mounted outside. Good to see this little piece of old Highway 40 still marking a neighborhood stop. 10-26

Country Club
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Here’s an old Country Club sign putting on a little show as daylight fades. The neon starts standing out against the evening sky, giving the lettering more presence than it had just a few hours earlier.

Sometimes dusk is the best time to catch these roadside sights. There’s still enough light to see the sign’s shape, while the illuminated tubing begins taking over. Hang around a little longer and the background disappears, leaving the advertisement to do its nighttime work.

UPDATE: For now, the photograph preserves the old dusk glow without tying it to an unrelated golf course, lounge, or shopping center. 10-26

Fairfield Arch Sign
Fairfield, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Look up while heading through downtown and check out the Fairfield Arch stretched across Texas Street. Like the familiar welcomes in Reno and at the Santa Monica Pier, this sign makes the roadway itself part of the greeting.

The Fairfield Lions Club erected the arch in 1925 for less than $1,000. Its original lighting used 80 incandescent bulbs, giving motorists a bright welcome long before the freeway became the usual way to pass through town. The arch had another job besides announcing Fairfield. An emergency beacon once alerted local police and firefighters to incoming calls. That’s a little more responsibility than most roadside signs ever had.

UPDATE: Saved from a demolition proposal in 1961, the arch received another round of attention in 2026. The Lions Club raised $100,000 toward its restoration, and the city scheduled its relighting for the July 4 celebration. YESCO rewired the sign and replaced its aging neon with LED tubing shaped to reproduce the glow. The familiar welcome survives, with newer lighting doing the work. 10-26

Cal West Motors
San Leandro, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Here’s the glowing marquee at Cal West Motors, adding some neon shine to the used-car lot in San Leandro. Signs like this once helped make an evening drive along an auto strip a little more interesting, even when shopping for a car wasn’t on the agenda.

The dealership dates to 1981 and describes itself as a family-owned business. Its East 14th Street location puts it along a corridor with plenty of roadside history, where car lots and neighborhood businesses have long shared the passing traffic.

With the automobiles lined up below and the lettering glowing overhead, this scene brings back an earlier way of advertising a lot full of possibilities. Apparently, the cars weren’t the only things expected to shine.

UPDATE: Cal West Motors remains in business and continues listing used vehicles for sale. 10-26