stephan plumbing - a photo on Flickriver

stephan plumbing

            Los Angeles, CA

Serendipity. We had a red-eye flight back to Toronto the day I shot this image so, in the afternoon, we headed to the vicinity of LAX so it would be easy to return our rental car with plenty of time to catch our flight. We spent the time just driving around, exploring streets we hadn't driven before, with one eye on the clock. And as we did that, we came across these Stephan Plumbing signs. Pretty cool, right?

Jack Stephan served in the navy in WWII and, after the war ended, he started his own plumbing business in Los Angeles. Since I have never lived in Los Angeles, this plumbing business was not familiar to me, but I've learned online that Jack Stephan was well known for his commercials on local tv in the 70s and 80s.

Info about the signs from the always-informative Roadside Architecture site:
"Jack Stephan Plumbing & Heating had two animated neon signs. They are both at least 15 feet tall. One faucet pours water with sequentially lit strands of tubing. The other faucet has five drops which are lit in sequence. Chief Neon produced these signs in 1946 for $1,500. The signs had been dark since around 2015. The neon was a frequent target of rock-throwing vandals. The last estimate to repair the signs was $5,000. In 2018, these signs were donated to the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, CA."

I shot this photograph in late September, 2018, so I'm guessing I captured it shortly before the signs were removed to MONA in Glendale. Like I said, serendipity.

Taken on: September 25, 2018

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#SIGNGEEKS

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Camera: Nikon D3100, f/5.0, 1/1250 sec, 18mm (=27mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D3100
Lens:	18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/5.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1250)
Focal Length:	18mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Saturation:	Low
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 22.5 (Windows)
Show full info

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