"On a drizzly December evening, Randall Ann Homan and Al Barna walked through the doors of an unassuming building tucked away on a quiet street in San Rafael and found themselves transported to another world. Greeting the co-founders of SF Neon was a life-sized sculpture of Humphrey Bogart in his white suit from "Casablanca," his fiberglass visage reflecting off an array of retro pinball machines blinking and glowing from every corner."
"Rounding the corner, past old diner signs, jukeboxes and the unwavering gaze of more than a hundred vintage Raggedy Ann dolls, Homan and Barna followed Fontes to a box in the kitchen as his bulldog, Marilyn Monroe, trailed behind them. One by one, Fontes meticulously laid out a series of paintings on top of the narrow glass covering the playfield of a coin-operated machine. "We just couldn't believe our eyes," Homan said."
"Upon closer inspection, Homan and Barna realized what they were: in-process sketches of neon signs that once illuminated city streets across the Bay Area, or may have never had the chance to see the light of day. The first Homan recognized was that of the Senator Hotel - an early mock-up of the sign that still adorns the historic property-turned-SRO today."
Randall Ann Homan and Al Barna visited muralist Dan Fontes' private collection in San Rafael and encountered a room filled with retro pinball machines, diner signs, jukeboxes and more than a hundred vintage Raggedy Ann dolls. Fontes produced at least 50 paintings from the 1920s to the 1960s laid on a pinball playfield glass. The paintings comprised in-process sketches and mock-ups of neon signs for Bay Area streetscapes, including the Senator Hotel and a proposal for Gump's. One foil design became the original United Artists Theater marquee, a venue now slated for demolition despite preservationist efforts.
Read at SFGATE
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