Neon Sign Museum

The Art Store was an art supply store located at 10416 80 Avenue in Old Strathcona, founded in 1980 by artist and proprietor Janet Traub. Ms. Traub worked at the Woodward’s Bakery in the 1970s to put herself through art school, then set out to design a sign that would distinguish her establishment as a creative stop for her retail and wholesale customers.

Ms. Traub travelled extensively to high schools, colleges and universities throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan, assisting teachers and professors with their curriculum and art supply requirements. The tumultuous 1980s proved to be extremely hard times for businesses in Alberta. She ultimately sold The Art Store to Burlington Art and Drafting in 1987 in hopes of a more secure future.

Ms. Traub would not know of her eventual return to the premises at 10416 80 Avenue, where the second of her neon signs, Bee-Bell Health Bakery, would subsequently hang as part of her business starting in 1995.

The Hood Motor Company was established by Gordon Hood in 1951, although the building on Whyte Avenue and 107 Street was not completed until January 1952.

Mr. Hood, who was raised on a ranch near Castor, Alberta, came to Edmonton in 1936 after years working in auto body shops in south and central Alberta. The Whyte Avenue Oldsmobile and Chevy dealership and automotive shop soon became “the most complete car service shop in Edmonton”, according to the Edmonton Journal. In 1959, Hood Motors added an eye-catching double-decker show room to the dealership, which is probably when the Chevy Bowtie Trucks sign was added. Hood sold the company at the end of 1961 to the recently-arrived Don Wheaton, who was an experienced car dealer from Saskatchewan.

Don Wheaton’s dealership was the largest General Motors (GM) distributor in Western Canada. It was also one of Canada’s biggest sellers for Corvettes. GM eventually requested that Don Wheaton renovate its exterior design to a more modern appearance, similar to the standard corporate dealership exterior. Although the retro appearance of the Don Wheaton building maintained from Hood Motors was favoured by the neighbourhood, many of the neon signs were eventually removed, and the dealership’s exterior was renovated.

Don Wheaton retained some of their neon signs and placed one on the corner of 107 Street and Whyte Avenue. The remaining neon signs on the roof were kept in place.

Marv Hayden opened his doors as “Marv Hayden's Furniture” in November 1964 at 10347 80 Avenue in Old Strathcona. Douglas Wright joined Hayden in the fall of 1966 and became a partner soon after. In 1968, the iconic rocking chair sign was created by Frank Demskie, Sharon Wright's father, of XL Neon Signs.

The Marv Hayden “Rocking Chair” became a landmark in the city of Edmonton. In the early years of business, the Grandma sat in the chair but would leave for a brief period of time for a rabbit during Easter and for Santa during Christmas. This ended in the mid 1970s, and Grandma stayed seated to greet people for the remaining years of the business.

Doug and Sharon Wright became sole owners in 1983, and their daughter, Jaime Eaton, joined the family business soon after. The name was changed to Hayden's Home Furnishings when the business moved locations to 10181 34 Avenue in 2002. Due to Grandma’s age, she required a little TLC prior to the move.

After a successful 49 and a half years, Doug and Sharon decided to retire and closed the doors in April of 2013. Their son, Blayne Wright, had the rocking chair, along with Grandma, removed and refurbished. Soon after, Blayne surprised the family without their knowledge by donating the sign to the Neon Sign Museum in 2016.

Auto wreckers and parts dealers have been Edmonton fixtures since soon after the first car first appeared on its streets.

Early car owners were often their own mechanics, since there were few of that trade in business before the Second World War. Even then, most mechanics were associated with automobile dealerships, and would usually service only what their company sold.

The need for wreckers and parts businesses increased greatly with the return of prosperity following the Second World War, the advent of the oil boom in 1947, and the demand among suburban dwellers for more cars and services. 

Cliff's Auto Parts and Wreckers operated at 9646 Jasper Avenue from 1959 until 1962. William Choma was the proprietor, while Phillip Fath was the manager. 

In 1962 Cliff's Transmission and Auto Parts moved to 10819B 101 Street. Cliff's Auto Parts also had a yard located in Riverdale by about 1963. Cliff's Transmission and Auto Parts moved again in 1967, to 10635 95 Street, and continued in operation until at least 1976.

This modest sign hung perpendicular to one of the city's iconic structures, the Flat Iron Building on Jasper Avenue and later on the Brighton Block, its neighbour to the west as the business changed locations.

Steam baths once were a common part of Edmonton life, popular with European immigrant groups and working men.

Edmonton Turkish Baths Limited opened for business in October 1913. Like today's health and beauty spas, bath facilities were considered very luxurious.

Luxurious Bath Facilities

Edmonton Turkish Baths boasted 13 large sleeping rooms, 2 large hot rooms (separate for each gender), a steam room, 3 shower baths, 6 tub baths, a barbershop, cigar stand, refreshments and shoeshine.

Turkish baths begin with a steam, followed by a soap rub, ending with a salt rub. The Edmonton Journal observed in 1913 that, "A new and elaborate Turkish Bath House has at last been established in the city to fill a long felt want for a city of the size and population of Edmonton ... located in the new Gibson block, one of Edmonton's high class structures, situated on Jasper Avenue at the point where Rice, Kinistino and Jasper converge..."

The Georgia Turkish Baths, a direct successor of the Edmonton Turkish Baths, would be the last such business to close in Edmonton in August 1991. It reopened briefly in 2004 as Steamers, but was again closed in November 2005. When it closed, Georgia Baths was known as "Edmonton's oldest public steam bath."

This sign hung on the Famous Players theatre on Jasper Avenue, formerly the Strand, and before that, the Pantages. The vertical sign once had a decorative illuminated "cascade" of lights over it, enhancing its first impression.

The sign was removed in 1964 and donated to the Archives and Landmarks Committee, forerunner of the Edmonton Historical Board. For many years the Pantages sign was attached to the southwest corner of the old City Archives Building.

Mayor William Short opened the Pantages Theatre at 10209 Jasper Avenue, to a packed house of 1,600 people, on May 12, 1913. It was the collaborative work of George Brown and  fellow Greek immigrant, Alexander Pantages, the famous theatrical impresario and entrepreneur.

The Vaudeville Era Exits Off Stage, and Motion Pictures Enter

However, in 1921, under threat of insolvency, Brown announced that the theatre would reopen as a "motion picture house," spelling the end of the travelling vaudevillians in Edmonton.

Ten years later Alex Entwistle purchased the theatre, upgraded the sound system for the "talkies," and added the renamed Strand Theatre to his network of movie houses.

Some live events remained, as the Edmonton Little Theatre and local opera productions used the stage on occasion. Premier William Aberhart recorded his Edmonton Prophetic Bible Institute radio broadcasts in the Strand.

In 1953 the Strand was renovated, and 3 years later purchased by Famous Players. First Northern Building Corporation purchased the Strand in 1959. It was declared a Provincial Historic Resource in 1976, but dismantled in 1979.

Furniture stores and "exchanges" were common in Edmonton beginning with the first immigration boom in the early 20th century. Many newcomers were on the move constantly as they settled into their latest home, while a large upwardly mobile segment of the population also felt the need to change their furnishings as they could afford them.

This created commercial opportunities that were specific to that time, but were also renewed with every wave of immigration during periods of increased economic activity in the city. Sam Dolinko's Edmonton Furniture Exchange was one such business.

More than 60 years in business

Samuel Dolinko was the proprietor of the business carried on under the names Canadian Furniture Store, Canadian Furniture Company and Canadian Furniture Exchange. 

Sam Dolinko began working in Edmonton in 1933, during the height of the Great Depression. He opened Canadian Furniture Company store on 97 Street near 103 Avenue in 1936.

Sam and his wife Cila, and his son Max Dolinko, who managed the business and saw it expand after the 1970s, were the principal operators of the thriving business for decades. As one of Sam's grandsons noted, "My grandparents created the store; my father gave it life." 

The company closed in January 1998, but only after serving Edmonton for close to 5 decades during its postwar growth and expansion.

The Canadian National Railways (CNR) sign was placed on CNR buildings in various cities to signify the Freight and Telegraph services that the CNR provided.

The one we have was not on a building in Edmonton but was salvaged from a site in Calgary. It is typical of the railway signage used in larger cities like Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon and Winnipeg.

The iconic neon X-L Furniture sign was installed in 1961. Rented from Blanchett Neon, for a monthly agreement of $32, this sign was repaired and repainted numerous times over the next 50-plus years.

In the early 1970s, the owner redesigned the logo, which was hung underneath the original neon sign, because complete replacement of the neon sign would have required (by City regulation) that the new sign be flush against the building, rather than projecting perpendicular.

Al Struzynski, the current owner, stated, "If it were not for that City regulation, the neon sign would not have survived to this day."

Store Capitalized on Post-war Prosperity

Edward 'Ed' Struzynski incorporated X-L Furniture, a carpet and furniture cleaning business in 1952 hoping to capitalize on the return of prosperity following World War II. He believed people would have the means to spend a little more of their income on home furnishings and upkeep.

After a successful start, Ed moved his business in 1955 to a better location (11349 - 95 Street) in Norwood. X-L Furniture settled in easily with the neighbourhood. However, in 1960, the single floor building with a wood floor burnt down.

The Struzynski family rebuilt a new 2-storey store (still present today as the centre bay of the store) the next year, and soon expanded their business to include furniture reupholstering, carpet and drapery sales and installations. The store was again expanded in 1972, when the north bay was built, doubling the size of the building, allowing for more furniture showroom space.