Broadway Cleaners
Redwood City, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Take a second look at the lettering on Broadway Cleaners in Redwood City. At first glance, the sign seems determined to repeat its message. Apparently, there wasn’t much room for doubt about what sort of business motorists were passing. A little repetition is easy to appreciate when it comes with this much neon.
The Broadway Cleaners in Redwood City still features it neon thumb tags pointing its service to the front door.
The marquee gives an everyday laundry stop some roadside personality. Dropping off shirts might be routine, but the glowing lettering makes the trip more interesting after dark. While customers waited for their clothes to be cleaned and pressed, the sign outside was already looking pretty sharp.
Broadway Cleaners
Redwood City, CA Photo courtesy Matt Walsh
The family business describes a history of more than 70 years. Its services have included everything from everyday laundry to draperies and wedding-gown preservation. Plenty of shirts, curtains, and special-occasion outfits have needed attention over that stretch of time.
UPDATE: Broadway Cleaners continues advertising dry-cleaning and laundry services at its Main Street location. The longtime family business carries on with fabric care, alterations, and specialty cleaning, keeping the familiar name in Redwood City’s neighborhood shopping scene. 10-26
Val Strough Chevrolet (Gone)
Oakland, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Check out the towering neon lettering for Val Strough Chevrolet, glowing above Oakland’s automotive scenery. This sign had enough height to get its message across to passing highway traffic. No need to wander through the showroom to appreciate this part of the dealership.
The business belonged to Oakland’s longtime car-dealer scene, where large signs helped distinguish one showroom from the next. By night, the illuminated name became an attraction of its own, rising above the automobiles waiting below.
A sign this size could serve as a landmark even for motorists who weren’t shopping for a Chevrolet. Sometimes the roadside advertisement was the most memorable thing on the lot.
UPDATE: Thne sign was initially replaced by a modern sign. The former dealership property later housed Honda of Oakland. Another big Chevrolet glow retired from the roadside. 10-26
Hollywood Hardware (Closed)
Sacramento, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
How about this giant neon hammer advertising Hollywood Hardware in Sacramento? With “Hardware” running along the handle, the sign made its point before customers even reached the door. The nighttime glow almost makes the hammer look doubled. Quite a tool for getting attention.
The family-run hardware store opened in 1948 and became a familiar stop in the Hollywood Park neighborhood. For decades, the oversized hammer marked a place to pick up the much smaller tools needed for jobs around the house.
UPDATE: Hollywood Hardware closed in 2024 after roughly 75 years, but its landmark sign was saved. By June 2026, the hammer had been installed above Otto Construction near Third and R streets. Its new home occupies the historic Thomson-Diggs hardware warehouse, giving the old tool a fitting place to hang around. 10-26
Linch Jewelry
Petaluma, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Here’s the old sign for Linch Jewelry in downtown Petaluma, with its lettering giving off a subdued glow in this nighttime view. The projecting marquee carries the name of a business remembered from the town’s earlier shopping days.
The sign dates to 1947 and was created by local sign maker Warren Barber. Its lower arrow originally advertised “3 Hour Watch Repair Service,” giving customers a pretty specific promise about when they could collect their timepieces.
That little message adds something to the sign’s story. Jewelry might have brought shoppers through the door, but getting a watch running again was another reason to stop beneath the neon.
UPDATE: The jewelry business has been gone for years, but its sign survives. After a truck damaged it around 2016, the building owner had Arrow Sign Company restore it in 2020. The work received a Petaluma preservation award that year. Good to see this old jewelry-store advertisement get some repairs of its own. 10-26
Lark Rexall
Guerneville, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Check out the nighttime glow at Lark Rexall Drugs in Guerneville. The familiar Rexall name and illuminated lettering give this neighborhood pharmacy the look of an earlier Main Street shopping stop. Quite a neon sight while passing through town.
There’s a long local history behind the storefront. Reporting in 2020 described the pharmacy as a Russian River institution with roots stretching back more than a century. A Sonoma County Library photograph also documents Lark Rexall in 1960, preserving an earlier chapter of the business.
UPDATE: Lark Drugs remains open as an independent community pharmacy in downtown Guerneville. It continues using the Lark Rexall name alongside its current pharmacy identity, keeping that familiar connection to the older drugstore days. 10-26
King Kovers (Gone)
Oakland, CA Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn
Check out another piece of Oakland’s automotive neon at King Kovers. The name advertised the business with a little spelling flair, while the illuminated sign gave passing motorists a reason to glance up from the traffic.
An upholstery shop fit right into the surroundings of Broadway’s Auto Row. Buying the car was one thing; keeping its seats, trim, and interior looking respectable was another. Shops like this handled the part of the automobile that drivers spent the most time sitting in. King Kovers appears in Oakland newspaper advertising as far back as 1958.
UPDATE: The Oakland operation was reported closed in 2016. That brought another chapter of Auto Row’s repair-and-service history to an end, leaving photographs to recall the storefront’s neon days. 10-26
Stephen's Sausages (Gone)
Broadway Cleaners
Hollywood Hardware (Closed)
Linch Jewelry
Lark Rexall
King Kovers (Gone)
