Jerry's Restaurant Plastic Sign

Object/Artifact

-

American Sign Museum

DCIM100GOPROGOPR0413.JPG

DCIM100GOPROGOPR0413.JPG

Name/Title

Jerry's Restaurant Plastic Sign

Entry/Object ID

2018.0014.0001

Description

Jerry’s started as a sandwich stand in Lexington, Kentucky in 1946. By the 1960s, when this sign was made, there were more than 53 locations across six states. When the Museum acquired this sign in 2018, it wasn’t functioning correctly and needed a little fixing up. Luckily, all it took were a few ballast and lamp replacements to get the sign glowing again. One side of the sign—the side facing away from the sun—was in excellent condition; the other had faded significantly due to exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays. The museum installed the side with the better face facing out towards the street. All the sign’s graphics were screen printed. Screen printing on plastic was one of the more modern sign-making techniques of the later 20th century that slowly replaced others like porcelain enameling. It is an image-transfer process that uses dyes and stencils, and can be completed front-facing or in reverse onto a material, in this case plastic. To learn more about the screen printing process, watch the video linked below.

Collection

Permanent Collection

Category

z_New Category Needed (Re-sort)

Made/Created

Time Period

1960 - 1969

Place

State

Kentucky

Dimensions

Height

98 in

Width

62 in

Depth

10 in

Material

plastic, LED

Location

Category

Exhibit