Photo: Paula Wirth

Neon Speaks 2024
Festival & Symposium

Register to watch recorded events
on-demand through January 2025.

The 7th annual Neon Speaks was a full of sell-out crowd for online and live events over 5 days. We keep live events small to give neon artists, sign makers, and preservationists a space to grow stronger by sharing neon preservation stories, techniques, design, and culture.

Local neon historians Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan are available for neon talks, tours, video screenings, and/or photo exhibits. Neon talks can be customized to connect with audiences on many levels: science, art, popular culture, design, typography, city history, and the growing national movement to preserve and appreciate landmark neon signs.

Contact us (sfneonbook@gmail.com) to schedule an online neon event, talk, tour, or screening.

Neon event partners in include: Art Deco Society of California, American Sign Museum, APA, Atlas Obscura, Balboa Theater, California Historical Society, California Preservation Foundation, Chinese Historical Society of America, Cooper Union Type West, Dear Community, Excelsior Action Group, Exploratorium Museum, International Association of Lighting Designers, Letterform Archive, Mechanics Institute Library, Museum of Neon Art, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Noir City Film Festival, Neon Type Camp, Nerd Nite EB, Nerd Nite SF, RayKo Photography Center Gallery, Portola Neighborhood Association, Roxie Cinema, San Francisco City Guides, San Francisco Design Week, San Francisco Heritage, San Francisco History Association, San Francisco History Days, San Francisco Public Library, Society for Experiential Graphic Design SF, Tenderloin Museum, TypeCon, and Western Neighborhoods Project.

Neon Documentary:
Glowing in the Dark

March 9, 2024 | SOLD OUT

Get ready to immerse yourself into this vibrant neon scene of the 1990s. Set against a backdrop of spectacular neon footage of Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, this 1997 film is an illuminating exploration into the vibrant history and contemporary use of neon. The movement, power, and raw exuberance of neon is revealed through a fascinating demonstration of how neon is made, a montage of notable neon installations and commentary from a colorful array of experts.

Introduced by Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan of SF Neon, followed by a live Q&A with filmmaker Alan Goldman, plus neon historian John Atkins. This event is part of the San Francisco: City of Neon Series to kick off 2024, in proud partnership with the Tenderloin Museum and the Roxie Theater.

Market Movie Marquees: Neon Nirvana

February 29, 2024 | SOLD OUT

Time travel with us to experience the elaborate neon movie marquees that once saturated Market Street. Between the 1930s–1960s, Market Street was home to over 18 movie theaters between 5th and 10th Streets, each with an extravagant neon marquee and projecting sign. All but three of these movie theaters are now closed or demolished. Hosted by Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan of SF Neon with Jim Van Buskirk, co-author of Celluloid San Francisco.

In-person event at 518 Valencia Street, San Francisco (around the corner from the Roxie Theater). Discover the rise and fall of this vibrant neon-filled corridor on the main artery of San Francisco where movie-lovers gathered from SOMA, the Tenderloin, Union Square, and beyond. This event is part of the San Francisco: City of Neon Series to kick off 2024, in proud partnership with the Tenderloin Museum and the Roxie Theater.

Cinematic Neon
San Francisco

February 1, 2024 | SOLD OUT

Register on Eventbrite to watch the recorded event. Thanks to everyone who joined us for this illuminating talk on the 1960s–70s era when SF gay bars went above ground and announced themselves with neon signs. Join us online via Zoom. Presented by Jim Van Buskirk with guests Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan of SF Neon. In proud partnership with the Tenderloin Museum and the GLBT Historical Society.
Photo: Al Barna

Presented by SF Neon and the Tenderloin Museum this evening features a series of slide presentations and discussions to explore neon’s various forms and functions in Warsaw, Havana, and San Francisco. Featuring slides of Cuban neon from Tenderloin Museum Executive Director Katie Conry’s and Steven Spiegel of Signs United’s recent trips to Havana. SF Neon will give an overview of the current projects to restore vintage neon in San Francisco. Following the slide presentations will be a screening of NEON, Eric Bednarski’s award-winning documentary on the neonization of Warsaw and Poland in the Cold War era. In this gorgeous film, Bednarski uncovers the remarkable Polish neon design of 1960s and 1970s in Warsaw.

Annual Neon Speaks Symposium & Festival, San Francisco/Oakland has presented online and in-person events at these great venues: Museum of Neon Art, Neon Works, Great American Music Hall, Verdi Club, Letterform Archive, and Tenderloin Museum,

Thanks to everyone for being part of Neon Speaks over the years for a curated collection of neon talks, demos, case studies, restoration tips, shop tours, walking tours, book signings, films, and action planning for creating a future where neon survives and thrives…

Featured artists and exhibitors in the Neon Curiosity Lounge:
Bill Concannon, Morgan Crook, Heather David, Dydia DeLyser & Paul Greenstein, Will Durham, Nevada Neon Project, Robert Haus, Dannielle James, Greg King, Ames Palms, Shawna Peterson, Roxy Rose Score, Michael Flechtner, Tod Swormstedt, American Sign Museum, Neon Craft Guild, Stuart Ziff.

Photo: Paula Wirth

Typecon is produced by the Society of Typographic Aficionados. We were honored that SF Neon was invited to present in the same conference with so many type luminaries: Nina Stossinger, Louise Fili, Paul Shaw, the list is long.

And how much fun to be co-hosts on the Electric Letterland Portland Neon walking tour for #Typecon2018. It is always illuminating to work on a project with @katewiddows! We met 20 cool typographers on the tour, and learned so much @typecon. Logo design: Kate Widdows

From the flashing signs of tourist traps to the forgotten signs whose ghostly white tubes remain unlit, neon signs represent a bridge from past to the future. Join SF Neon founders, Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan, with typography guru Shelley Gruendler for a journey to examine some of the most fascinating neon sign survivors and preservation projects in the Bay Area. Rare neon books and smaple cases on display courtesy of Dydia DeLyser and Paul Greenstein.

SF Design Week | Tenderloin Museum

San Francisco Mayor promotes neon restoration! Hope to see you at the Avenue Theater’s neon celebration. SF Mayor Ed Lee will be there to help flip the switch to reveal the Avenue’s towering restored neon sign. There will be live organ music, ice cream, and plenty of popcorn! We will be on hand to celebrate and see our design for the marquee neon “The AVE” aglow for the first time. Kudos to Jim Rizzo /Neon Works team for another excellent neon restoration project of an historic cinema treasure. This restoration is a project of the Portola Neighborhood Association and the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Don’t miss the cool fly-over video in Hoodline article.

Avenue Theatre | 2675 San Bruno Avenue SF | Free

Nerd Nite SF covers the spectrum! We’ll get a handle on comparative brain science from a neuroscientist, and then actually handle real brains. Next, expert illumination on the art, craft, and history of neon in the Bay Area. Finally, a physicist will help us see the light on dark matter. All this, plus the colorful DJ stylings of Alpha Bravo, drinks of all stripes, and a crowd of bright people like you.

Nerd Nite SF | Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street SF

If you were on the list for Atlas Obscura events in San Francisco, then you had the first chance to join these sold-out tours of historic neon signs, back stories and back alleys included. We were thrilled that Atlas Obscura invited us to be part of their local learning event series, SF history via vintage neon signs.

Atlas Obscura Neon Chinatown Walking Tour
YMCA 855 Sacramento Street San Francisco

Photo: Charles Chapman

Oakland Mayor promotes neon restoration! We had a surprise visit from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, posing here with Jim and Kate Rizzo. Jim and Kate graciously hosted a neon event at Neon Works HQ, organized by Bart Bernhardt for Atlas Obscura. We did our neon preservation talk, Jim gave a fascinating tour of his shop and personal sign collection, then Libby Cahill gave and expert tube-bending demo. It was so much fun we would love to do it again for our mailing list subscribers, stay posted. The time is ripe for an Oakland neon renaissance, and Mayor Schaaf told us she wants to find a way to illuminate vintage neon in her city… We are working with Oakland neon advocates and the mayor’s community engagement office to create a series of neon bike tours in Oakland for 2018. Please let us know if you have a favorite vintage neon sign in Oakland! Check out this awesome resource: a map of Oakland vintage signs from the prolific Our Oakland blog by Gene Anderson.

Atlas Obscura Neon Works Shop Tour

NeonWorks, 967 Grace Avenue, Oakland

How have neon signs influenced the landscape of our city? How does a unique neon sign evolve from advertising to art? Join us for an afternoon exploring these questions with San Francisco Neon authors Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan plus special guest speaker Avery Trufelman of 99 Percent Invisible/Radiotopia.

San Francisco Public Library | Saturday 12/10/16 | 2 PM
San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin Street
in the beautiful Koret Auditorium, lower level | Free

San Francisco Public Library exhibition in the music and arts section in the summer of

View all the exhibition photos on Flickr.

We will be signing books and screening neon-focused footage from the Prelinger Archive, and a supercut of neon signs featured in classic Hollywood films. 6-10 pm: galleries and bar open and San Francisco Neon book signing and neon focused-footage screenings. 8 pm: scientific presentation on neon, the featured element from the an ongoing series called Everything Matters: Tales from the Periodic Table. Come be in your elements with Exploratorium host and scientific raconteur Ron Hipschman.

EXPLORATORIUM  Pier 15 , Embarcadero at Green Street, SF

We will be signing books for the opening of the San Francisco Neon exhibit at the Rayko Photography Center Gallery, a community hub for San Francisco photographers. View exhibition photos on Flickr.

Exhibit dates: August-November 2015
428 Third Street SF | Free

The Noir City film fest is always a packed to the rafters annual 10-day event at the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco. We are thrilled that Film Noir Foundation founder, Eddie Muller, invited us to be part of Noir City and screen our video essay Stolen Moments, a cinematic homage to neon and noir.

Noir City Film Festival 14
Castro Theatre 429 Castro Street SF