Crews will spend early August re-installing the "Portland" sign at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Jeremy Jeziorski / Courtesy of Portland'5 Centers for the Arts
Contractors are returning a piece of Portland history to its rightful place. The glowing marquee scaling the side of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall is nearing the end of a $500,000 renovation.
The hall, originally called The Publix, was built in 1928. Its name changed to The Paramount in 1930 before finally becoming the Schnitzer in 1984.
During most of those intervening years, its iconic oblong sign has brightened Southwest Broadway.
In the years since the sign's 1984 rebuild, Portland rain corroded its sheet metal frame and took a toll on its glowing graphics.
Tom Sessa of Portland’5 Centers for the Arts, the non-profit that maintains the concert hall, says no design changes were made.
Instead, workers rebuilt the sign's shell, replacing sheet metal with aluminum to counteract weather damage. They re-installed the neon and covered the sign with new paint and a layer of UV protection designed to slow the fading effects of sun and rain.
"That's a beacon, not only for our venues, but for our city," Sessa said.
Crews took the sign to Yakima, Washington, for the metal and neon work, then brought its components back to Portland. Now the reinstallation is unfolding in several phases.
"There were two main structural support beams that were worked on when the sign originally came down." Sessa said. "And then the main spine, the main metal bracket that holds the sign together, that'll go up first. Once the spine gets back on, we'll start putting the faceplates back on."
Those six faceplates make up the iconic "Portland" logo.
The team is shooting for the second week of August for completion. Sessa says Portland'5 will mark the occasion with a public relighting ceremony on a date to be announced.