Plaza Motel Porcelain Enamel Neon Sign

The Plaza Motel was a small mom and pop lodging location in Dayton’s Old North neighborhood established in 1957. Its rooftop boasted a large-scale hand-made skeleton neon sign, and a large double-faced porcelain neon sign called to motorists at the street-level. This late 1950s roadside sign was most likely manufactured by the American Sign Company of Cincinnati given the close location to Dayton and the small business size of Plaza (as compared to national brands like Holiday Inn). Our best research indicates the company began about 1922, re-incorporated around 1947, and finally merged with another company by 1980. Another sign company by the same name did exist in Kalamazoo, but had closed at least 15 years prior. The sign’s condition is poor, requiring a complete neon remake and likely porcelain enamel restoration. Beginning in the 1950s, large-scale neon signs sprung up across the country and dotting its highways, a symbol of expanded American travel and family road trips. Motels such as Plaza, and neon signs such as its fine example, are hallmarks of this burgeoning American era.

Very good: majority of neon intact; cabinet porcelain and arrow show repainting; porcelain condition unknown