July 25, 2016

Another sign of the times: City Light replacing old neon tubes with LEDs

Photo from Seattle City Light [enlarge]

The neon City Light signs that have lit up the Sodo area for nearly a century will go dark this week as crews bring them into the 21st century.

Seattle-based Western Neon Custom Sign Builders has an $80,000 contract to exchange the old neon tubes with modern LED rope lighting.

“City Light” is spelled out twice in sets of 10-foot-tall letters on the roof of Seattle City Light's South Service Center at Fourth Avenue South and South Spokane Street. One set faces west and the other faces east toward Interstate 5.

Replacement is expected to start Tuesday and take up to two weeks.

Employees from City Light's Facilities and Customer Energy Solutions divisions, and Lighting Design Lab, designed the changes so that the new lighting will replicate the red-orange glow of the original 1920s signs.

The last upgrade to the signs was in the late 1980s.

A City Light news release says the neon systems have outlived their expected lifespan and become hard to maintain. The LED lights are expected to use 70 to 94 percent less energy and be cheaper to maintain.

The signs are not landmarked, but they are the last remaining pair of City Light signs from that era. Similar signs at City Light's Yesler substation, Cedar Falls powerhouse and Lake Union steam plant were taken down years ago.

A City Light spokesman said those signs stopped working and the utility didn't keep them. He didn't know where they ended up.