'Unique and special': Photographer highlights hundreds of neon signs across Idaho – BoiseDev

An Idaho photographer is showcasing hundreds of vintage neon signs that once shone brightly outside popular Idaho landmarks, businesses, and more.

Neon signs were a popular addition to the outside of businesses between 1920 and 1950 – but by the 1960s, businesses steered away from them due to cost.

“I wanted to capture what still remained of all the vintage neon that I had grown up seeing around Boise, many of which were already disappearing at a rapid rate during the 80’s and 90’s,” Photographer Jess Jackson said. “Since the sign industry was already moving away from neon and into bland, generic looking, backlit LED stuff, I wanted to preserve what was left through my photography, before our last examples of the “golden era” of neon disappeared as well.”

From 2006-2012, Jackson took hundreds of photos of neon signs when he drove throughout the state for his job.

“Instead of sitting around in hotel rooms during my off-time, I decided to start looking for neon signs to photograph as a way to pass the evenings since I usually traveled alone,” he said. “That led into exploring some of the smaller, more remote towns and photographing what neon they still had.”

After five years, Jackson had built a large collection of photographs, and he decided to organize the neon sign pictures into the shape of Idaho – called Signs of Idaho.

“The signs I’ve featured are unique in the sense that there are no copies of them,” he said. “You’ll only find the Torch Lounge sign in Boise, the Turf Club in Twin Falls, Buddy’s in Pocatello, or the Corner Club in Moscow,” he said. “Those are local icons that people have attached their own personal memories to and that’s what I think makes them unique and special.”

While several of the signs in the photograph align with the location where they were taken, many do not.

“A lot of areas in Idaho don’t have any neon signs left, where some parts of the state, like Pocatello, Twin Falls, or Boise still have relatively large collections,” Jackson said. “It just became impossible to put these all in their exact location and still maintain the shape of Idaho, which was the primary objective.”

The individual photographs featured in Signs of Idaho can be found on Jackson’s Flickr page.