Collectibles
Walk into the warehouse at 280 West Third Street in Pomona and the first thing that hits you is the hum. Forty-seven vintage neon signs, all operational, line the walls of a space that Rudy Calderon has spent eight years wiring, restoring, and arranging into something between a museum and a fever dream.
Calderon, a retired master electrician who spent 30 years with Southern California Edison, began collecting neon in 2009 after salvaging a 1952 motel sign from a demolition site in Barstow.
The Collection
The inventory runs from a six-foot-tall 1940s bowling alley pin to a complete set of channel letters from a defunct Googie-style coffee shop in Azusa. The oldest piece is a 1937 barber pole sign from downtown San Bernardino, still running on its original transformer.
“The tubes last longer than people think,” Calderon said. “If the gas is right and the electrodes are clean, a sign can run for 30 years. The problem is always the transformer.”
Going Public
Until recently the collection was private, open only to friends and the occasional film location scout. That changed when Diana Woolsey, who runs the Pomona Arts Colony second Saturday walk, convinced Calderon to open the doors.
The first public viewing drew over 200 visitors. Calderon charges no admission but accepts donations toward the electric bill, which he describes only as “significant.”
The warehouse is open the second Saturday of each month, 6 to 10 p.m. Contact Rudy Calderon at (909) 555-0147.