Links

Many of us on the inter-net wish to see our drives and desires met quickly and efficiently, as befitting life in our Modern World. Therefore, we wish to aid our fellow travelers in their daily edification and delectation by recommending the following sites.

First and foremost, may we direct you here:

http://www.modcom.org/

The Modern Committee, part of the Los Angeles Conservancy, maintains a website that provides links to every postwar architecture/architect/modern living site you can think of, and many you can’t.

Let’s not forget our friends at the Museum of Neon Art --

http://www.neonmona.org/

Many more great examples of neon signage exist than could be accommodated in our humble tome, and you owe it to yourself to take a tour of the Wilshire Boulevard corridor at the very least. For a handy guide, go here:

http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/pubart/neon_signs/

Call it Googie or Populuxe or Atom-Age architecture, the visionary utopianism of mid-Century America replete with magnificent signage gets a good overview here:

http://www.spaceagecity.com/googie/gallery.htm

Putting all this neon into historical perspective can be daunting the most comprehensive (and easily downloadable) history of LA lives at:

http://www.socalhistory.org/LA%20Chronology0001.html

Vancouver? Yes, it’s more than just Molson and mukluks and Angelenos shooting films set in New York. It’s got more than its share of first-rate eye-popping signage. This site takes you on a tour thereof, and includes some very fine information about the scientific processes involved in neon.

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/neon/main.html

For a more complete techno-historical look at neon, see:

http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa980107.htm?once=true&

The American Sign Museum, brainchild of Signs of the Times Magazine, is out in Cincinnati but word has it they’re on their way to Las Vegas to construct an open-air neonopolis.

http://www.signmuseum.org/

The good folks at Roadsidepeek have archived quite an array of images, heavy on LA and Route 66 motels, restaurants, bowling alleys and the like.

http://www.roadsidepeek.com/index.htm

We can’t say enough good things about the Society for Commercial Archeaology. Established in 1977, the SCA is the oldest national organization devoted to the buildings, artifacts, structures, signs, and symbols of the 20th-century commercial landscape.

http://www.sca-roadside.org/index.html

A lot of good people worked labored tirelessly to save LA’s Cinerama Dome for you. You owe your fallen comrades, and humanity itself, something in return. Go here and get involved now!

http://www.savethedome.net/dome.html