Hey Jess
Seems like you or one of your readers may know this (or know how to find out).
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/…
The Seattle Department of Transportation will use its $22,727 grant through the program to restore the four clocks – part of a larger rehabilitation of the 1906 structure, now a central hub in the region’s public transportation network.
“When illuminated at night, the clock tower will once again serve as a beacon for locals and travelers,” said Flo Lentz, of 4Culture, SDOT project manager
But there’s one mystery, the press release says. No one remembers the original color of the neon lights surrounding the clock face, and no color photographs captured the clock as it glowed at night.
City transportation department project manager Trevina Wang is looking for anyone with information about the original color. Her email is trevina.wang@seattle.gov.
Allie
Via E-Mail
10/9/08
Seems like you or one of your readers may know this (or know how to find out).
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/…
The Seattle Department of Transportation will use its $22,727 grant through the program to restore the four clocks – part of a larger rehabilitation of the 1906 structure, now a central hub in the region’s public transportation network.
“When illuminated at night, the clock tower will once again serve as a beacon for locals and travelers,” said Flo Lentz, of 4Culture, SDOT project manager
But there’s one mystery, the press release says. No one remembers the original color of the neon lights surrounding the clock face, and no color photographs captured the clock as it glowed at night.
City transportation department project manager Trevina Wang is looking for anyone with information about the original color. Her email is trevina.wang@seattle.gov.
Allie
Via E-Mail
10/9/08
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| King Street Station @ Fourth Avenue south. South of Jackson street paving center strip. Jan 10, 1944. Courtesy Engineering Department Photographic Negatives, Seattle Municipal Archives. |
Hmmm… I question how “original” neon lights would have been to the 1906 King Street Station considering that neon lights were not used in the United States until 1923.
I certainly am not old enough to remember there ever being neon lights on King Street Station. Are we talking about a circluar light around the outside edge of the clock faces, or some sort of neon back lighting? Neon on the exterior sounds a bit tacky to me, but if it back lit the faces (which I believe are semi-transparent) then I suppose that would be nice.
Hmm. Presumably there should be records of the purchase of the neon lights somewhere.
We inherited very limited records from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railways Company when we purchased the station from them earlier this year, and there are no records of the purchase of neon lights. Early pictures(prior to 1923) of the station showed what looked like neon signs of the letters GN and NP hanging on the railings above the clocks. They stand for Great Northern and Northern Pacific, the two railroad companies that competed in the past. The neon systems that provided backlighting to the clocks’ perimeter are mounted on the inside of the clocks.
For those that are curious, I found a picture of the daytime signs here (as they say, click for enlarged image).
I want to say that the neon was a bright pink, but I’d be curious to see whether anyone else has the same memory. I’m, ahem, 52, a Seattle native, lived over in West Seattle ’til I was seven years old, and generally speaking am visually-oriented and tend to recall certain obscure things of this ilk, sorry to say.
Anyone else think pink?
even before reading what Brian wrote, when I saw the “ring around the clock” my mind said “Pink” without thinking about it at all. The clock face was white, the border was pink / magenta.
I’ll e-mail trevina.wang@seattle.gov