Lighting up the downtown eastside

Photograph by: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun

Restored hotel, stunning deco sign a beacon of hope for a troubled area
By John Mackie
Vancouver Sun
January 8, 2009

You wouldn't think a sign would have that big an impact on a street. But a new three-storey neon sign for the Pennsylvania Hotel has completely transformed the corner of Carrall and Hastings.

What had been one of the most dingy, decrepit corners in the Downtown Eastside is suddenly vibrant and beautiful, a potent symbol for the long-awaited rejuvenation of the troubled neighbourhood. The neon sign is the crowning touch on one of Vancouver's most extensive heritage restorations.

"The neon is almost like the jewelry on the building," said Don Luxton, the heritage consultant on the Pennsylvania restoration.

"It's the finishing touch, the thing you have to have to make it complete."

The sign is a replica of the Pennsylvania's original 1920s neon. It has cool, clean, elegant art deco lines, with white neon letters and amber and reddish-orange neon borders. Built by Knight Signs, it's probably the first neon sign toBlogger: Streams of Justice - Create Post be erected in the old downtown since neon went out of fashion in the 1960s.

The $47,000 sign is part of an $11-million restoration of the Pennsylvania, which opened in 1906 as the Woods and also operated as the Rainbow and Portland. The official reopening was Wednesday.

Read the rest here

See also Pennsylvania Hotel opens supportive housing (Frances Bula)

See also Housing could be part of a stimulus package (The Province)

See also Renovated hotel gives hope to homeless man (Vancouver Courier)