Mission: American Sign Museum

"Thank you for the Chicken Colonel"

According to the website of The American Sign Museum its mission is "to inform and educate the general public, as well as business and special interest groups, about the history of the sign industry and its significant contribution to commerce and the American landscape."  The collections of the American Sign Museum are unique and exquisite.  The unlikely location and surprising find contains more than 2,800 cataloged items.  These showcased items include more than just signs; it includes sign-making equipment, materials and tools.  there are also salesperson samples, books, catalogs and other literature.  Furthermore, there are photographs and transparencies, artwork, design sketches and 3-dimensional architectural models.

It's only open on Saturdays (and by appointment).  Adults are $10, and included in the price is a guided tour.  We opted against the tour, because it was too early for us to pay attention...  Additionally, our friend Shelley joined us and a "Guest Quester," or GQ. 

What Karen Said:  I geeked out a bit, I admit it.  I have been in the sign business since 1994(?) so this place was crazy interesting for me.  Seeing all of the vintage gold leaf signs dating back to the beginning of the century, to the Neon (some of it rare in color) era of the 40's and 50's, to the chunky tin and old style illuminated pieces, I was besides myself.  Some of the pieces were recognizable from hotels, drug stores, Buick, Frisches.  They had one for PennFuel and Gas that used oil lamps to illuminate it.  How could that ever have been safe....  but it was very neat.  I loved seeing the old color sample chips salesman would carry to meet with client and learning the stories about how some of these pieces came to be from the design and manufacturing perspectives.  They even had a handful of old hand painted showcards from Vegas featuring Frank Sinatra, Marilyn, and even CHARO! (cuchi-cuchi) 

If you can, I would recommend checking this place out.  I was actually texting my boss and sending photos of all of the cool things inside, on a Saturday.  I am sure he was thrilled.

What Colleen Said: Holy Bananas!  I had NO idea this place existed.  I had no idea this amazing gem was only a few miles away from where I currently live.  This place is AWESOME.  Before going, I figured it was just another random thing on our list that would be educational, but probably hokey and really just something that I would have to spend the afternoon doing so we could "check" it off the list.  This was not something I was looking forward to doing, nor was it something that I was particularly expecting to be anything special at all.  I will admit when I am wrong (sometimes)... and this is one of those rare instances where I was wrong.  And I was VERY wrong.  This place is freakin' awesome.  There are signs that you recognize from movies (maybe), and signs that are just neat.  There are things everywhere, and I can only imagine for Karen, who I think had a similar preconceived idea of the place, but she SELLS signs for a living, was near peeing her pants.  It was pretty cool... I wanted some for my house, but I think the hot pink kayak sitting on the side of our house is already more junk than my boyfriend wants.

What Shelley Said: We will have to get a response from Shelley.