I’m past this neon liquor store sign on Broadway west of Steinway Street all the time, but rarely late enough to see it lit up, like this. You rarely see an all-green neon sign. The rest of the display window seems equally old-school, with curved glass and stenciled lettering. Is neon expensive? If not, why did we get away from it in awning signs? Yes, new neon can be found here and there, but most of it is on aged fixtures from the 1940s or earlier.
Liquor store signs also give signmakers, in neon, paint, plastic, whatever the medium, to use the letter Q, one of the wild cards in the alphabet since it can be rendered in different ways.
I rarely use liquor as in bourbon, scotch, whiskey. The whole lot tastes extremely bitter to me and warms the inside of my throat going down. I suppose if you ask serious drinkers why they drink, the answer is “to get drunk.” I have drank gallons of beer over 50+ years but very little liquor. I stay away from drunkenness, as I don’t like the spinning room and the proclivity to vomit.
But everyone should do what they like.
9/9/14