Market Update: You’ll never see us: The Denver family business preserving neon – Full Analysis

Morry’s Neon clients range from bigger chains like Target and Safeway to local bars and restaurants. 

Neon lights consist of a glass tube filled with neon gas. Through heat and air, master benders can manipulate the tube, creating the intricate designs and letters synonymous with the signage at dive bars and theater marquees. Neon benders use phosphorus coatings to change the lights’ colors, with more than 70 possible shades.

The 1920s through the 1960s is considered the golden age of neon in the United States. Neon signs populated thoroughfares in big cities as businesses tried to draw in customers.

“A local architect here in Vegas refers to it as ‘the attention arms race.’ Each sign is fighting to say ‘No, no, no, look at me,’” said Aaron Berger, executive director of The Neon Museum in Las Vegas.

On Colfax Avenue, many hotels and businesses still have neon signs up today, but it’s a far cry from the street’s heyday, Weseloh said. The hundreds of flashing neon signs that used to line the streets have been replaced by LED signs and billboards.

The team at Morry’s Neon maintains many remaining signs on Colfax. Last year, the team worked on the newly renovated sign at the reopened La Vista Motel located on Colfax. 

In the ’60s, First Lady Lady Bird Johnson believed that outdoor advertising was out of control and championed the Highway Beautification Act, leading to the curtailment of neon signage. 

Berger said many people also started to move on from neon because it looked dated. Businesses opted for newer lighting technology to look more modern, Berger said. 

LED lighting is more energy efficient and cheaper to manufacture. But they lack a lot of the charm that neon provides, Weseloh said.  

While most research points to LED being durable and easily repairable, both Berger and Weseloh argue that neon is a natural product and lasts longer than LED when built well. 

“If you think about Las Vegas weather we have, 120 degree summers, below freezing winters, monsoons and windstorms and all these other fun things that too — but the tube remains intact. There is no reason why, [neon] couldn’t go on forever,” Berger said.