Let’s remember when the Paramount Theatre got a brand new marquee, on this day in 2009 (October 7)
The Paramount Theatre has been an icon in downtown Seattle for close enough to a century. The marquee that can be seen from space (probably) has now been there for exactly ten years.
According to HistoryLink’s John Caldbick:
On October 7, 2009, workers install a sparkling new vertical marquee on the historic Paramount Theatre at 9th Avenue and Pine Street in Seattle. The marquee, fabricated by The Sign Factory of Kirkland, Washington, is a detailed reproduction of the one that has been in place since 1930, when the two-year-old Seattle Theatre was renamed the “Paramount” and the marquee relettered to reflect the change. After that, the six-story-high sign remained in place for another 79 years. Over that time, Seattle’s weather took a slow but relentless toll on the marquee, the exterior of which was made of sheet metal. Paint chips and blisters, metal rusts, stopgap repairs did little but buy time, and by 2009 the accumulated damage proved too great to remedy. The Seattle Theatre Group, which owns the Paramount, raised money from government, foundations, and the public to finance a new marquee. The Sign Factory of Kirkland, which maintained the old sign for several years, was selected to fabricate the replica, which has an outer skin made almost entirely of aluminum, and electrical and lighting upgrades to provide increased brilliance with a significant reduction in cost and energy consumption. Upon completion, the 65-foot-long sign is trucked to the Paramount site where, over just two days, the old marquee is removed and the new one is installed.
Read the whole thing (seriously, there’s lots of great info in here):
