Remodeled Nike Store in Seattle - Now Open

 

Don't forget to look up when you visit Nike's redesigned Seattle store. A custom neon sculpture hangs from the ceiling of the second floor mezzanine.  

At the direction of Guild in LA and Nike, Western Neon fabricated and installed the 12 x 18 foot ceiling of Seattle icons at the totally remodeled store on 6th Avenue in downtown Seattle.  There is over 700 feet of neon and fifteen transformers in the sculpture, which can be seen from the street.  It is spectacular!!

It's one of several unique touches for the downtown store, which also features an art installation that honors the city's rabid football fans, known as the 12th man.

Sandwich Environmentalism - Good intentions equal good sandwiches

THEY’RE HOMEGROWN, all right.

Brad Gillis and Ben Friedman. Born months apart. Met in Mrs. O’Neill’s kindergarten class on Mercer Island where (bet you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich) they were the kids most likely to succeed.

Don’t know Homegrown? Imagine a sandwich shop with a social conscience. A very green machine: certified organic ingredients when available, local when possible, packaging that’s recyclable or compostable.

Yeah. These guys grew up here, apples falling from fruitful trees.

“Both our dads were entrepreneurs,” in real-estate development and biotech, explains Friedman. “We grew up around startups, risks. That was always the discussion around the dinner table.” Ditto for nonprofit work and philanthropy.

They call their calling “sandwich environmentalism.”

“Our market is not an economic market, it’s an idealistic one,” says Friedman. And Seattle idealists are voting with their pocketbooks.

These two dynamos just opened their fifth Homegrown shop at 208 Westlake Ave. North today.  It's a beautiful space and the food is very tasty.  Stop down for lunch, you won't be disappointed.

Lamplighter Public House

Western Neon would like to introduce the new Lamplighter Public House, originally Sweet Lou's in Greenwood.

This location has been updated with a VERY unique rooftop sign. It has a 5 foot tall lamplighter figure, who is lighting a streetlamp with a flickering flame.

We invite you to go visit the new hot spot in the heart of Greenwood and try some of their drink specials.  

Restaurant français arrive au centre-ville de Seattle

Chef Thierry Rautureau's long-anticipated new restaurant, Loulay Kitchen & Bar, officially opened this week at Sixth Avenue and Union Street, a win for downtown Seattle’s efforts to land local celebrity chefs.

Named for his hometown of Saint Hilaire de Loulay in France, the new restaurant will feature Rautureau’s take on contemporary urban French cooking and will operate in partnership with the Sheraton Hotel next door. 

Rautureau won the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Northwest Award in 1998 for his fine-dining restaurant Rover’s in the Madison Park neighborhood. He later added the more casual Luc on an adjacent lot.

Also known by his trademarked name “the Chef in the Hat” for his ever-present straw fedora, Rautureau closed Rover’s in June after 26 years and began the transition to downtown. He has described Loulay as a marriage of Rover’s and Luc and “the culinary presentation of my heart and soul.”

Western Neon provided all the stunning signage for our favorite "chef in the hat", who was fabulous to work with on this project.  The main exterior sign on the corner entrance is a curved cabinet with radiused corners and clear gold neon script and hat extending beyond the cabinet.

Filson   The American Brand

The double-sided rooftop sign reaches 65 feet from ground level and was having problems with the original 60ma transformers causing the neon tubes the burn out more frequently.  Each Filson letter required two transformers and Western Neon replaced the letters with all new neon tubes, which totaled a quarter of a mile in neon tubing and 30 transformers. Now the Filson sign is shining better than ever!

Beard Foundation names Douglas 'Outstanding Restaurateur'

In the biggest achievement of his career, Tom Douglas was named "Outstanding Restaurateur" by the James Beard Foundation on Monday night in New York. The awards are considered the Oscars of the food world.

The national award encompasses Douglas' body of work, not just any single restaurant.

The honor is a defining award in Douglas' celebrated career, chef Eric Tanaka, an associate of Douglas', said in a phone interview after the award ceremony. "It is clearly, easily our biggest honor."

Congratulations to the Man, not only is he a great guy, he is outstanding!!!   

A Seattle Favorite is finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award

Seattle restaurateur Tom Douglas is a finalist for the James Beard Foundation awards, the New York-based foundation announced Monday.

Douglas, is a former Best Chef Northwest, made the finals in the Outstanding Restaurateur category for the third time in five years, riding the success of Brave Horse Tavern, Cuoco and Ting Momo in the South Lake Union neighborhood.  His other successful restaurants include Etta's, Seatown, Rub Shack, Dahlia, Lola, Palace Kitchen, Serious Pie and Dahlia Workshop.


The James Beard Awards are considered the nation’s most prestigious chef and restaurant honors. The winners will be announced May 7 in New York.


Good Luck, Tom.    You Rock!

The world is their oyster!!

Check out the gorgeous new Taylor Farms Shellfish store on Melrose, lots of white tile, and stainless steel and a fabulous assortment of shellfish.

When you're finished deciding what to have for dinner tonight, be sure and take time to appreciate the most beautiful neon sign in the city.  Dimensional faux logs, marine rope and an elegant neon heron keeping watch over everything below.  Breathtaking!

Taylor Shellfish Farms is a 5th generation family-owned company producing Olympia, Kumamoto, Pacific & Virginica oysters, Manila clams, Mediterranean mussels, geoduck, & shellfish seed for national and international markets.

They are open 7 days a week from 10 am to 7 pm to provide you with the freshest oysters, clams, mussels, geoduck, and scallops, brought to Seattle throughout the week directly from their farms. 

What's new?

Happy Summer!!  Things have been so busy at Western Neon with new work, so it's been quite a while since I've submitted a new post.  I thought I would send out a few of our favorite signs from the past six months.

1) New MSN office in Lincoln Square; interior sign with LED channel letters and classic three-dimensional neon butterfly.  2) City of Shoreline Monument sign with push-through letters.  3) Varro on Capitol Hill; exposed neon with blue LED backlighting.  4) Taylor Shellfish on Capitol Hill; exposed neon cabinet with faux logs.  5) Amore Infused in Belltown; 12 ft hight waterfall behind halo-lit channel letters.  6) Bangbar Thai in West Seattle; vertical cabinet with perforated aluminum, internally illuminated.
New msn office in Lincoln Square; interior sign with LED channel letters and classic 3 dimensional neon butterfly. 2) City of Shoreline monument with push-through letters. 3) Varro on Capitol Hill; exposed neon with blue LED backlighting. 4) Taylor Shellfish on Capitol Hill; exposed neon cabinet with faux logs. 5) Amore Infused in Belltown; 12' high waterfall behind halo-lit channel letters. 6) Bangbar Thai in West Seattle.

New msn office in Lincoln Square; interior sign with LED channel letters and classic 3 dimensional neon butterfly. 2) City of Shoreline monument with push-through letters. 3) Varro on Capitol Hill; exposed neon with blue LED backlighting. 4) Taylor Shellfish on Capitol Hill; exposed neon cabinet with faux logs. 5) Amore Infused in Belltown; 12' high waterfall behind halo-lit channel letters. 6) Bangbar Thai in West Seattle.