BOOK SOUP, 8818 W Sunset Blvd., just east of Larrabee. Book Soup, which bills itself as “Bookseller to the Great and Infamous,” is branded with a wonderfully wacky red and yellow neon sign that makes clear that this is no Barnes and Noble. Photo by Joshua Barash.
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COLLAR & LEASH, 8555 Santa Monica Blvd. at La Cienega. An abstract neon dog barks at the sun and the moon from the parking lot of this pet supply store. Photo by Joshua Barash.
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EMSER TILE, 8431 Santa Monica Blvd. at Olive Drive. Emser, one of the country’s leading suppliers of tile and natural stone, is headquartered in this seven-story building, a skyscraper by WeHo standards. If it weren’t for the enormous yellowish Emser neon sign on the roof, the solid white building, erected in 1925, would go unnoticed by most (except of course by those who remember it from the first “Lethal Weapon” flick). Photo by Joshua Barash.
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OUT OF THE CLOSET, 8224 Santa Monica Blvd. just east of North La Jolla. One of a number of thrift shops operated by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, this Out of the Closet location is notable for its green neon sign festooned with a purple hanger. It was designed by the famed neon artist Lili Lakich, who founded and served as first director of LA’s Museum of Neon Art, now based in Glendale. Photo by Joshua Barash.
