The folks at Torontoist just posted this: Sam The Record Man’s contents are going to be auctioned off, including the neon signs, on Wednesday, June 27th at 10:30 a.m. (I guess the 18,000-plus people who signed up for the Save Sam’s Sign Facebook group didn’t persuade anyone to do anything).
From the auction house: “Outdoor neon records, unique neon signage, Olde English Shoe shine stations, Antique English Pub Bars, Store Fixtures, Marquee Signs, Pos and Security systems, Musical Instruments, Plus much more!”
photo by Richard Almasi
9 comments
Wow. I’m hoping that the winning bidder will do something worthwhile with those perfectly legal, first-party, iconic signs.
I wonder if the CityTV truck on the side of 299 Queen Street West will be next on the auction block.
Glad this trashy section of Yonge is FINALLY getting cleaned up. Hope the sign finds a good home.
How about putting the sign on the Roundhouse!
“How about putting the sign on the Roundhouse!” That’s not going to work – the Roundhouse will more likely be defaced with the yellow oval of the Leon’s furniture chain!
How about on the abandoned Torch on the east side of Dundas Square? I think if not Sam’s, somwhere on Dundas Square will be the best place for it. Dundas Square, if it’s going tyo be all ads, should at least have some neon – the crappy cheap backlit signs and video screens are so lame.
The city should designate the sign as a historic property – as with the building – a 1950s former Bank of Commerce with lots of original material.
I see no point in holding on to the remnants of a failed business. It’s always sad when a piece of our past has to be taken down or destroyed, but the reality for me is that these signs were created for the same purpose as the digital signage of Dundas Square. Advertising. I’m sure ol’ Sammy Boy would have made his bigger and lamer had he had the technology back then, so is it not a little hypocritical to get all mushy over this signage when 98% of people reading this post are disgusted by the extravaganza which is Dundas Square? What do I know? I make junk mail.
Its interesting how sometimes its not things like the ROM that become touchstones but things that we dont miss until they are gone.
The Sam’s sign really holds a lot of cache for me; cruising down Yonge on a Saturday night, its shimmer told you how far away you were from the action. That sign meant you were DOWNTOWN!
Putting it at ugly Dundas square might not be a bad idea. An outdoor lesson in branding history and corporate culture. People can look back at a time when Sam’s was a family business and you could go in the store and there was a real guy named Sam that you could talk to. I remember as a teen being asked if I neede help. Turning around I realized it was Sam; THE SAM!
In a similiar light news that the Revue Cinema will probably open: a story oddly absent from the Spacing headlines. The re-opening of this cinema, which with the Fox, were the only Festival cinemas that made money, will have a huge impact on the West end where this facility was beloved; a meeting place. I thought the design concepts in the Globe 2 weeks ago about saving the West End were a joke and as I said at the start, sometimes its the things that people take for granted, like the Revue, or Sam’s that are the real glue that makes communities great.
It’s a gaudy, tacky sign that reflects the gaudy tacky neighbourhood. Good riddance! Thank goodness it will soon be gone! Why are we even talking about it like it’s worthy of being a museum piece? This is ridiculous.
I wish that Spacing writers and readers would focus our collective energy instead on discussing how we can make huge strides in improving Yonge Street and in putting public pressure on City Council to do so. It is mind-boggling that we have allowed the main street of our city (in fact one of the most famous streets in Canada) to languish in such a state of decay.
Yonge Street should be the most beautiful, enticing, pedestrian-friendly street in Toronto, not a tasteless, ugly, decaying strip of junk!
GLAD TO SEE CANADIAN HISTORY PRESERVED,THIS SIGN IS HISTORY,TRUE TORONTONIANS AND CANADIANS WILL ENJOY THIS ,,BRINGS BACK GOOD TIME MEMORIES AND BIG MONEY MAKEING TORONTO HISTORY ,,MORE BIG NEON SIGNS SHOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED FROM THE PAST,LIKE THE CARLING OKEEFE CENTER SIGN,IRWIN TOYS,DOMINION GROCERYS,SUPERTEST GASOLINE,I.G.A GROCERYS,ADMIRAL APPLIANCES,MOLSON BREWERYS,BICKS PICKLES,BORDENS DAIRYS,LIBBYS BEANS,AND MANY MORE , MOST OF THESE WHERE LOCALY FAMILY OWNED STRUGGLING CANADIAN BUSINESS,S ,AND THEY WHERE PROUD OF THEIR BUSINESS,S AND SHOWED THE WORLD WHO CAME TO TORONTO AND SEEN THESE SIGNS,SOME OF THESE SIGNS ARE THE BIGGEST IN THE WORLD PROMOTEING LOCAL CANADIAN PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRY..BORN AND RAISED IN WEST END TORONTO I HAVE SEEN MOST OF THE HUDGE NEON SIGNS FROM MANY YEARS AGO WHEN THE FAMILY DROVE TO THE CITY CORE DOWNTOWN,THERE ARE NO BIGGER NEON SIGNS IN CANADA..THAT ARE TRUE CANADIAN BUSINESS,S….