Description
Local photographer and history enthusiast Matt Hucke believes Seattle is losing its character. Rent increases, skyrocketing land values, petty crime, pandemic setbacks, and obsolete business models are driving decades-old businesses from the city. Beloved neighborhood institutions are disappearing at a furious pace, and along with them, unique buildings and businesses—replaced by generic and interchangeable mid-rise apartment buildings and glass skyscrapers like those in most other major cities. Seattle’s neon heritage is also vanishing.
Recognizing those losses motivated Hucke to capture a full-color collection of more than 450 brilliant, whimsical, outlandish, and downright spectacular signs. From Aurora Avenue to White Center to Rainier Valley, his book, Seattle Neon, documents the Emerald City’s extensive neon history—the familiar, obscure, historic and new—with gorgeous photos from every neighborhood. The included location information makes it a perfect resource for self-guided walking tours. Watch a clip on the book on the Seattle Channel’s Art Zone with Nancy Guppy. His portion begins at about 20:11.
“For three years, I’ve walked the major streets of every neighborhood in Seattle, by day and by night, seeking the best neon art—commercial art, some might sneer, but art nonetheless. Neon is uniquely handcrafted. Every piece of glass has been bent by a skilled artisan to precisely the shape and length required. When all or part of a sign inevitably stops working, usually after decades of exposure to the elements, replacement tubes are fashioned using the same difficult and labor-intensive techniques as used to craft the original. Neon is not cheap, or disposable, or forgettable—neon is an investment. Neon is a statement that a business expects to survive long enough to be worth the effort.”—Matt Hucke
About the author:
Author and photographer Matt Hucke is drawn to disappearing and endangered historic places and artifacts, some of them hiding in plain sight. His first book, Graveyards of Chicago (with Ursula Bielski), explored the history and personalities behind (and beneath) Chicago’s best cemetery monuments. Now in Seattle, he’s brought this same idea to a newer form of historic art: vintage neon signs.
Contents
Introduction
- Downtown Core
- Pioneer Square and International District
- Pike Place Market and Belltown
- Cascade
- Capitol Hill
- Central Area
- Queen Anne
- Interbay and Magnolia
- Ballard
- North of Lake Union
- University District
- Northeast Seattle
- Lake City
- Northgate
- Northwest Seattle
- Rainier Valley and Seward Park
- Beacon Hill
- Industrial South
- Delridge and White Center
- West Seattle
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Sources
Index of Locations and Signs
About the Author
