Dr. Barry Bleeck's Glasses

Object/Artifact

-

Museum of Neon Art

Name/Title

Dr. Barry Bleeck's Glasses

Entry/Object ID

2019.13.1

Description

Giant eyeglasses from the office of optometrist Dr. Barry Bleeck (later called the Optometric Eye Institute) at 842 S. Broadway Blvd. in downtown Los Angeles, removed from the building in 2017. The sign can be seen in the 1996 Tom Hanks film “That Thing You Do!”

Category

Signs

Made/Created

Date made

circa 1950 - 1959

Dimensions

Width

12 ft

Interpretative Labels

Label

Dr. Barry Bleeck’s Glasses 1950s Donated by Joyce and Scott Benson Simple in design but striking in its coral hue, these 1950s neon eyeglasses once contributed to the wonderful array of neon lights illuminating Broadway Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles. The glasses adorned the façade of Dr. Barry Bleeck’s optometric office, located at 842 Broadway Blvd., right next to the Orpheum Theatre. He had begun his practice in the 1940s and by October of 1959, Dr. Bleeck held 29 licenses for branch offices across Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, and Long Beach, which he continued to operate through the 1970s. Eventually, the Optometric Eye Institute moved into the location and repurposed Dr. Bleeck’s glasses for their own business. At some point, the sign was faced in plastic. In 2017, Scott Benson and his mother Joyce donated the glasses to MONA, which they bought from a sign/scrapping company as they were being taken down from the original location. The sign can also be seen in the 1996 classic film “That Thing You Do!” starring Tom Hanks.