When the company Neon Products is mentioned, the first image your mind may conjure is that of large flashy signs that, depending on your opinion, beautifully or gaudily illuminated many storefronts of Vancouver’s commercial districts, predominantly from the late 1920s until the 1960s.
When this February 1946 photograph was taken, Neon Products’ focus was starting to shift back to the neon sign business after a slowdown of sign production brought about by the Second World War. Years of dim-out regulations, material shortages, and redirection of the company’s efforts towards the production of precision instrumentation, electronic devices and mechanical equipment all contributed to this hiatus.
The Engineering Division of Neon Products began transitioning production plans to household goods in late 1944 with the anticipation of the War’s end. By the summer of 1945, it was making radios and electric irons for civilian use. Probably one of the reasons you don’t necessarily connect Neon Products to electric irons is that the Engineering Division was sold about the time this photograph was taken.
Interested in finding more archival photographs of Vancouver? Search the City of Vancouver Archives’ online database. For more information about the Archives, its holdings, and how to research, visit the Archives’ website.
