As a blast of arctic air approaches New Haven, I’d rather think about a more pleasing set of gases: the ones inside the slender, snaking, siren glass tubes we call neon signs.
In fact, “neon sign” is often a misnomer. Neon, the gas, glows red when stimulated by an electric current, but not everything we call a neon sign does. According to this 89-year-old sign company, signs filled with argon glow blue, while xenon glows lavender, helium pink, mercury vapor light blue and krypton white-yellow. Gases are often mixed for chromatic or chemical purposes, and krypton’s relatively neutral hue makes it a favored ingredient in signs where it’s the glass, not the gas, providing the color.
Still, “neon sign” is an alluring catch-all, as good at catching our minds as the signs are our eyes. Here are some local ones that have caught mine.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. To view images with captions, check out the email edition.
