IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT IT

Neon sculpture by Glenn Ligon

NEON LOS ANGELES

The 80s were the heyday of neon signs in Los Angeles. Melrose Avenue and Third Street were especially incandescent.

Neon Jungle

Examples of Los Angeles Neon from the 1980s

Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace, located on the corners of Santa Monica Blvd & La Cienega Blvd. in West Hollywood, CA. was briefly the real-life embodiment of the kind of roller skating nightclub immortalized in the 1980 film "Xanadu". This photo was taken in 1980, not long before it closed in 1981, making way for an ESPIRIT clothing store. Today it is the site of a drug store.

Hot Neon

The Starwood Night Club in West Hollywood, Ca. around 1980 when it was a showcase for punk bands. It closed down after a fire in 1981. Currently an ugly little corner mall on Santa Monica Blvd.

Sign that used to adorn the Jim Morris Gym in West Hollywood, Ca. Photo taken in 1981. Was located right next to the former home of FLIPPER'S ROLLER BOOGIE PALACE on Santa Monica Blvd.

Sign for The Pleasure Chest adult fetish superstore on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, CA.  1981

In 1981 Melrose Avenue was flooded in neon, and one of the more animated signs was this active one for FLIP used clothing store.

The Tropicana Motel was a popular motel for rock bands, tourists, and burn-outs - located on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, Ca. Photo is from 1981. It was torn down in 1988. Currently the site of one of the ugliest hotels ever built. Dukes coffee shop, which was next door to the motel, had the best chocolate cake in town.

Another example of Los Angeles Neon 1981

Sign for the Gold Cost bar in West Hollwood, Ca., taken in 1981. Bar has been there as long as I've been in Los Angeles (since 1978) and I suspect it will still be there long after I'm gone.

Sign says it all. 1981, Los Angeles Ca.