Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 61 ers. Ben Parrish says, "Neon bend- ing is a dying art." That coupled with the rising cost of supplies adds up to the high price tags associated with maintaining and refurbishing vintage neon signs. For lack of craftsmen, Katrina Banks worries about these signs going from endangered to extinct, 110 years after their debut. IN THE BEGINNING Georges Claude introduced neon signs at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. A year later half a world away, PEKIN CHOP SUEY opened in Butte. It's the lon- gest-continuously-run Chinese restaurant in the U.S. The exact age and manufacturer of its iconic sign aren't known but an educated guess is Electric Products Corpo- ration (now EPCON) likely made it. The company started in Great Falls in 1928 and was the first to make neon signs in Montana. In a 1929 newspaper article, EPCON directors said their company "is destined to grow until it leaves a blazing trail of light behind it in every part of Montana." By 1930, the company employed sixty-nine men and brought in an astounding $50,000 per month in sales—$750,000 in today's dollars. TRAIL BLAZERS Blazing trails of neon signs lit Livingston's streets and continue to do so today. As a gateway to Yellowstone National Park, visitors arrived by train in the early days of the park. Neon signs along Park Street advertising restaurants, bars, and the Murray Hotel (formerly the Elite Hotel) greeted them. Neon signs also lured patrons to the Mint Bar, OWL LOUNGE, and Hiatt Hotel a few blocks away. Here in Livingston, Anton Pirtz met Maria, his mail-order bride. As Maria stepped off the train, Anton spied her from behind a large pillar—was she the bride he'd hoped for? They married three days later. Ahead of her time, Maria started the RAINBOW BAR in Billings in 1935, even though as a woman she couldn't own a business. Today, Maria's granddaughter, Linda Jacobson, owns the bar. Its sign is one-of-a-kind now but not when Maria bought it. A man selling signs from the back of a pickup truck offered her two choices—a Rainbow Bar or a Silver Dollar Bar sign. Identical Rainbow Bar signs ended up in Roundup, Hilger, and Sheridan, Wyoming. Only the one in Billings remains. Refurbishing the sign is expensive, but Linda says it's worth the effort. I wholeheartedly agree.

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