Label
Sun-Lake Drugs
1950s
Donated by the family of Irving and Gladys Matlow
Among the last of the mom-n-pop pharmacies in Los Angeles, the closure of Sun-Lake Drugs was a sad day for the neighborhood. The corner store derived its Sun-Lake name from its location at 2860 Sunset Boulevard in the Silver Lake area and had a facade decked out in neon and the large words “Drugs” in a sans-serif design and “Prescriptions” in a period-appropriate, mid-century script.
The use of the word “Drugs” in the Sun-Lake sign demarks a changing era and adds to the sign’s rarity and importance in the Museum of Neon Art’s collection. In the 1950s, the word “Drugs” still had a positive, healthful connotation, but that did not survive the following decade. The youth culture of the 1960s diluted the word in a new climate of drug use and abuse. Across the nation, drug stores slowly changed their identities to become pharmacies and lose the word “Drugs.” The neon signs from the Matlow family’s Sun-Lake drug store are rare survivors and represent a changing era.