Neon Metals Bar sign recreated from classic image

WALLACE — An old photo and willingness to recreate nostalgia led to some cool “new” illumination in downtown Wallace.

Metals Bar owners Jeremy and Katie Watterson saw an old photograph of Wallace when they bought the bar three years ago and immediately noticed a large neon sign that they wanted to recreate.

The photo, from the Barnard-Stockbridge Collection, told a very interesting story.

The year was 1946, and a group of bagpipers is playing in the Slippery Gulch parade. Behind the band are the Samuels Hotel, Western Union and the Metals Bar with the iconic sign in the background.

“We saw this photo when the Metals was a part of the Samuels Hotel down the street. There was a sign we noticed in the background that we did our best to replicate with lettering and the shape,” Jeremy explained.

The Wattersons commissioned Zack Rockstad from Seattle to hand paint the sign with attention to the original design. The sign was then sent to Baldwin Signs in Spokane for the neon assembly.

“It’s an interesting process because no one person builds neon signs. You have one person who fabricates metal, another person who paints the sign, one who does the electrical work, one who works on glass, and you slowly put it all together but you can’t just give your design to one person and have them take care of all of it,“ Katie said.

The sign took about two years in total to be built. The process took a significant amount of time because one person could not finish it.

“We sent the photo off, sent him the blueprints to fabricate, and then it sat for a while until I could find someone to paint it. Then it sat for a while as I found someone to work with the neon. To find someone to do neon anymore is pretty tricky. Finding someone who can bend, shape and mold it,“ Jeremy described.

Once the sign is built, there is still the possibility of breaking because the glass is so fragile.

“Talk about a dying art. Neon bending and glass bending. When the company came to install it, they broke two letters of the sign. So they later had to come back out and reset the last two letters. As he was doing that, he bumped another letter with his elbow and it broke. This is like a 500-pound egg that had to be delicately placed on the building,” Jeremy described.

When the lengthy process was over, and the Wattersons were able to see the final result, they were thrilled with the final product.

They unveiled the sign late last year with a ribbon-cutting and reception — since that time the sign has caught the eyes of many people, locals and tourists alike.

“This couldn’t have turned out any better. This is exactly how I envisioned it. It’s our contribution to the town,” Jeremy said with a smile. “It will last longer than the time we own the bar. And hopefully, the time that I’m on planet Earth.”