‘Unique and Special’: Photographer Illuminates Hundreds of Neon Signs Across Idaho

“I wanted to capture what was left of all the vintage neon I had seen around Boise as a kid, much of which was rapidly disappearing in the ’80s and ’90s,” said photographer Jess Jackson. “With the advertising industry already moving away from neon and toward boring, generic, backlit LED material, I wanted to preserve what was left in my photography before our last examples of the “golden era” of neon disappeared. “

From 2006 to 2012, Jackson took hundreds of photos of neon signs as he drove across the state for his job.

“Instead of sitting around in hotel rooms in my free time, I decided to look for neon signs to photograph to while away the evenings since I usually traveled alone,” he said. “That led to me exploring some of the smaller, more remote towns and photographing the neon lights that still existed there.”

After five years, Jackson had built up a large photo collection and decided to organize the neon sign images in the shape of – called Idaho Sign of Idaho.

“The signs I presented are unique in the sense that there are no copies of them,” he said. “The Torch Lounge sign can only be found in Boise, the Turf Club in Twin Falls, Buddy’s in Pocatello or the Corner Club in Moscow,” he said. “These are local icons that people have attached their own personal memories to, and I think that makes them unique and special.”

While some of the characters in the photo match the location where they were taken, many do not.

“Many areas of Idaho no longer have neon signs, whereas some parts of the state, such as Pocatello, Twin Falls or Boise, still have relatively large collections,” Jackson said. “It simply became impossible to place them all in their precise locations and still maintain the shape of Idaho, which was the main goal.”

The individual photos are shown in Sign of Idaho can be found on Jackson’s Flickr page.