NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — At a farm in Maury County, the buzz of insects at summer time is what you hear outside. Inside was a different buzz, the sound of signs carrying neon lights.
"Saving Americana!" Klint Griffin said, surrounded by vintage signs. "I think people have an emotional attachment to a fonder age."
"This is off a Country Boy restaurant out of Missouri," Griffin said, gesturing to a vintage sign of a boy carrying a fishing pole.
Griffin has long worked in antiques, but he's taken on a special interest in neon signs the past ten years.
"This is a Shell sign circa 1930," he said, showcasing another vintage piece. "It came out of Texas, used as target practice at one point. It was a large caliber rifle. The bullets tore through it."
Griffin runs Liquid Fire Vintage Neon.
You can spot some of his shop's work out in the wild in Tennessee. There's the sign for Urban Cowboy Bar in downtown Nashville. In Leipers Fork, they did the Fox & Locke restaurant sign. Both of these are custom pieces.
Often, Liquid Fire Vintage Neon gets classic pieces from all over the country and goes about restoring them. They use the same materials for the restoration that would have been used during the sign's creation.
"Fix the structure issues, the electrical issues, bend the glass," Griffin said.
The restored pieces then find a new home.
"A lot of our clients are restaurants and bars, and they end up in some people's houses," Griffin explained. "It's almost like an adoption agency, but there's no agency. It's just me."
Griffin spoke while standing next to a vintage sign for West-Wind Motel. If the sign looks familiar, it's from Chicago and was seen in the movie, The Blues Brothers.
"Famous scene where Twiggy is leaning up against a Jaguar waiting for Elwood, this is in the background," Griffin said.
Griffin said this crew has worked on about 500 pieces, and there's something that keeps pulling him in.
"Everything's been done by hand, someone's idea," he said about the vintage neon signs. "It wasn't just cookie cutter. They made stuff to last. It has a timeless feel. It doesn't age out. It's not trendy."
There's also this; many of these pieces were once defining bits of iconography for an area. The latest restoration is part of that.
A lot of people on Dickerson Pike aren't sure of exactly when the sign at Last Chance Liquors first went up.
"Oh man, this sign, you're talking about 50 years!" said one local resident.
Actually, I think it's even older than that.
"Since God created Earth!" the resident guessed again.
Too far back.
Even the current store owners aren't sure.
"From what we can tell, 50s and 60s," said Last Chance Liquors owner Brett Diaz.
"We think it's been over 30 years since the sign has been operational," added co-owner Aaron Armstrong.
A crowd gathered to watch the sign be lit up again.
After a countdown, the Last Chance Liquors sign went on to the sound of cheers.
For Griffin, this is what it's all about, getting to share a piece of art with a community and with his son.
"The arrows are from 1970s," Griffin said to his 13-year-old son as the two studied the sign. "What do you think of it?"
"I think it looks very good."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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