Sign of the Times

Vintage Greyhound Sign Reclaims Place in Redding History…

It was a sign that helped put Redding on the map, a navy blue and neon beacon that said this city is connected to the bigger world. And for 15 years, it’s been missing, but very soon it’ll be back, shining as bright as ever.

The sign at the Greyhound bus depot had been a downtown fixture near the corner of Pine and Butte streets since the early 1950s. By early in the following the decade, the depot had run its course and it was closed in 2010. Dean and Jane White purchased the building with the goal of preserving it, but it just wasn’t feasible and it was demolished in 2013.

The Shasta Historical Society stepped in to preserve the sign and Pat Corey, owner of McHale Sign Co., volunteered to store it at his business. And there it sat as various parties pondered how, and where, the sign could be resurrected.

The Redding Chamber of Commerce and its Forward Redding Foundation breathed some life into the sign project with the Redding City Identity Project, a project designed to come up with 20 ideas to burnish Redding’s image by identifying and building upon the community’s best attributes.

The ideas were unveiled before a packed Cascade Theatre audience in 2019. In addition to now-familiar projects like downtown murals and Turtle Bay’s Garden of Lights, the 20 ideas included “celebrating one of Redding’s former landmarks and our vibrant history by restoring a cool old neon sign and repurposing it into publicly accessible art to be displayed in Redding.”

Thanks to a collaborative effort involving the Chamber, Redding Area Bus Authority, Viva Downtown Redding, the Historical Society, Visit Redding, McHale Sign Co. and the city, a plan was realized: Restore the sign and install it at the entrance to RABA’s Downtown Transit Center.

“We’re excited about it,” says Kelly Sepelyak, the executive assistant to RABA Director John Andoh. “We’ve seen a lot of revamping and art going in downtown and we’re excited to bring some of that to the downtown terminal. It’s really cool to have a vintage piece down here, where it belongs at the bus station.” 

Todd Jones, president and CEO of the Chamber, agrees: “We’re excited to see it come back to life. It’s such a cool sign.” To get the ball rolling, Jones says the Forward Redding Foundation seeded the sign project with $10,000. He credits McHale Sign’s Corey and Viva Downtown Project Coordinator Blake Fisher with “doing a lot of the heavy lifting.”

For Corey, restoring the massive sign is a swan song of sorts as he prepares to hand off the business to his son, Kevin. Additionally, he says, rather than moldering in his lot, the sign deserves to be enjoyed by the community.

“It’s been 20 years of stop-and-go planning,” says Fisher, but this summer “couldn’t be a more fitting time with all the historic preservation going on and the rise of the arts.” Not only will the restored sign pay tribute to RABA’s recent accomplishments, including the RABA Runabout on-demand transit service, but it will be a welcome addition to the Redding Cultural District, Fisher says.

“From Viva’s point of view, (Viva Executive Director) John Truitt and myself, and I’m vice chair of the Historical Society, we’re just ready to see these signs not just sitting in a lot, but reintroduced to downtown and bring some light to the downtown transportation hub,” Fisher says.

Made of sturdy porcelain, Corey says the sign is in good condition. The glass tubes outlining the symbolic greyhound and the letters spelling BUS have been formed by hand and coated with white phosphorous. Once filled with neon, argon and other gases and charged with an electrical current, they emit a soft white glow.

Brody Wilbourn, RABA’s program operations manager, said the sign will be installed once an electrical contractor lays the cable and transformers necessary to provide power to the sign. The sign will be visible from both the Shasta Bike Depot and Library Park.

“By reintroducing this sign, it sets a course for the other neon signs that are waiting,” says Fisher, who notes the popular shamrock-themed Clover Club sign is a likely candidate. “We hope it gets everybody back on the right track.” •

www.reddingchamber.com/redding-city-identity-project/

www.vivadowntownredding.org