When 9 year old Dave Waller found an old sign at the dump, he carried it home on his bike and ignited a lifelong passion for collecting vintage signs. After acquiring a pickup truck in the mid-1980s things began to get serious – so many neon signs were being torn down that almost every weekend found Dave together with his new wife Lynn Riddle rescuing signs across New England. They came from everywhere – from building faces that changed hands to back yards of sign shops to dumpster diving. They even found a sign in a river! As the collection grew, they realized that signs are actually a symbol of something more when we connect them to history, so Dave began gathering stories, photos and related materials for his signs in order to understand them in context. Before long, the Wallers began to exhibit them in museums, city parks and restaurants where the public could continue to enjoy the magical glow. Finding great old signs gets more difficult every year but they do pop up on occasion and when they do, Dave and Lynn gas up the truck and hit the road.
LetThereBeNeon.com.   NeonWilliams.com  IG @neon_williams Photo: Doug Levy