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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2018)
FEBRUARY 8, 2018 // 15 TU E 22 $ ILIES FAM OME! C WEL ECIAL! Y PI Z Z A DA Pizz 2 for as SP S out Hungry Harbor GrillE O ding 503.325.7414 bakedak.com #1 12th Street, Astoria, OR 503.755.1818 www.camp18restaurant.com Favorite stop to & from the Coast O ned y ng a mmer ol- Imagine Your Restaurant Advertised Here! 3 8TH & L, ON THE S EAV IEW BEAC H APPROAC H 3 60-642-7880 V ALENTINE’S DAY DINNER FEB 14 North Coast and Peninsula 3 13 Pa c ific Hw y, Do w n to w n Lo n g Be a c h, W A 3 60-642-5555 • w w w.hu n gryha rb o r.c o m –– OPEN DAIL Y! –– A STORIA C ORNER D ELI ◆ Local ◆ Fresh ◆ Gourmet See for full menu 304 37th Street | Astoria, OR 97103 503-325-7768 All orders take-out Place Your Ad Here! Advertise Your Restaurant O ur of ns EDWARD STRATTON PHOTO Bob Pershing, who helped make a neon sign for Workers Tavern, also worked with Astoria Brewing Co. Continued from Page 4 “After the war, there were a lot of them going up,” Pershing said of the neon signs, adding that his father bent a lot of neon tubes for Wunola. Neon lights consist of a glass tube, heated and bent into the desired image and filled with the noble gas, plus an electrode at either end. An electric current knocks the atoms of the gas out of orbit. Electrons collide with each other and are sent back to atoms, creating energy and light. Other noble gases besides neon can be used for different colors — pink for helium, green for krypton and blue for argon. Often sign-makers will use a powder coating to create a certain color scheme. Many of the gas-lit signs started disap- pearing by the 1970s as businesses changed and turned toward plastic-faced signs backlit with fluorescent lights, Pershing said. He makes signs for companies across the U.S., including Regal Cinemas and the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Most of his work these days has migrated to LEDs, or light-emitting diodes. “They make an LED like neon, but it’s more expensive,” Pershing said. “I do see LED replacing neon.” Part of neon’s relative demise is related to a global movement away from mercury, a toxic chemical element commonly used to make bright, multicolored gas-lit signs. The U.S. has moved to limit the use of mercury commercially. The Minamata Convention on Mercury, signed in 2013 by the U.S. and nearly 140 other countries, will phase out the manufacture, import and export of many mercury-infused products by 2020. DIANA KIRK PHOTO Bob Pershing with Ramsay Signs gives a tour recently of the shop to show visitors how neon signs are produced. Along with Workers Tavern, Pershing has done neon signage for Astoria Brewing Co. and the Labor Temple Diner & Bar. CW
