Posted on Mon, Sep. 26, 2005
Dancing neon pig will be preserved
By Leigh Weimers
Mercury News
So home-grown Bassian Farms has bought out another San Jose institution, 63-year-old Stephen's Meat Products, and plans to keep the latter's products and name on the market even after the landmark Stephen's building on Montgomery Street is no more. But what about that building's other landmark: the famous dancing pig neon sign?
Rest at ease. The pig will be preserved. Linda Morrison of Stephen's management has worked out a deal with History San Jose so the sign will become part of the city's historical collection. And even if that weren't the case, the city was prepared to find some way to keep the pig dancing somewhere, says Joe Horwedel, San Jose's deputy director of planning. ``That sign is a classic,'' he says.
Not so classic that city sign regulations would permit you to create something similar today, though. ``The neon pig, yes, but not the animation,'' Horwedel says. (The sign lights some of its neon tubes in sequence to give the impression the pig is dancing.) However, the city has been loosening some of its sign restrictions since the Bad Old Days of the 1970s when San Jose seemed determined to want the title of Nation's Most Boring Downtown. ``We now allow neon on fin signs'' (those projecting from buildings), says Horwedel. ``I expect there'll be movement to further loosen the code someday.''
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12744072.htm
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