El Portal Theater in North Hollywood

El Portal Theatre is a historic landmark in the San Fernando Valley city of North Hollywood. The theater was originally built as a vaudeville house in 1926, The theater has featured Vaudeville acts, silent movies, and then film

The theater was divided into three theaters when it was rebuilt in the late 90's. It hosts performers like Debbie Reynolds (who is coming there in July) and stage plays like the Wonderettes, which I happen to see and found very entertaining.

The Art Deco marquee has the traditional curved, colored neon lines that were popular during that era. The symmetry of the artful patters was terrific back then.

Art Deco Signage in San Francisco

One of the century’s most innovative and popular designs, Art Deco was a style that spread across the globe in the 1920s and 30s and contained the same forward-looking architectural aspirations of the earlier Art Nouveau period (1890s to 1910s).

As time progressed less became more so that the ornamentation that lined the perimeters of signs disappeared from signs in the 50s and 60s.

Today in San Francisco, many of the Art Deco signs remain. I believe the city has the best collection of these signs in the world.