Fall debut scheduled for Temp sign
Did you really think it wouldn’t be back? Ha ha, ho ho, hee hee, you must belong in the maison de fous!
The Temptation martini sign, destroyed during Hurricane Ian, is finally put back together and ready to hang over Park Avenue.
“It is finished,” said Jeff Simmons, co-owner of The Temptation.
The sign is now bubble-wrapped and in storage, according to Simmons. It will return this fall, after being so damaged by Hurricane Ian that it was literally hanging by a wire.
Because the restaurant closes for the season on July 29, the owners thought it best to wait for installation until after summer, in case the island were to be hit by another storm.
The restaurant will reopen on October 5, which will allow the community to have a celebration upon its return.
Sign Masters in Venice was contracted to do the work, but Simmons said that ultimately it had to be sent out.
The sign, with a green martini glass and pink olive, dates from the era of Temptation founder Homer Addison. It has become a civic landmark and appears on Instagram posts and island souvenirs commemorating the 1947 restaurant.
Ashley Scarpa, while she owned Grande Stitches, commissioned a needlepoint version of the sign, designed by Jessica Tongel. The needlepoint is one of a group of stitched Boca Grande icons sold by Grande Stitches, according to owner Janice Hursen. Others in the set include the Johann Fust Library Memorial Library, the Range Light, Our Lady of Mercy and the pink Gulf gas pump at Hudson’s Grocery.
The sign also appears on Lindsey McKelvy’s paper placemats at the Outlet at the Innlet.
The martini sign is among a rare group of historic neon signs that are still in place, in their original location, advertising the original business.
Nationally, neon martini signs as a genre are discussed in lectures by J. Eric Lynxwiler, a Los Angeles-based neon historian who is board member emeritus of the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, Calif.
“They’re so symbolic,” said Lynxwiler, co-author and researcher of the 2005 book, “Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles” and the 2016 book, “Signs of Life: Los Angeles Is the City of Neon.”
The Neon Museum of Los Angeles is home to the celebrated Brown Derby restaurant neon sign, for generations a fixture at Hollywood and Vine. That L.A. symbol was restored by the museum in 2016, after the sign had been in private hands.
While Lynxwiler has not seen The Temp martini sign in person, he believes it wonderful that the sign is coming back after restoration.
“I’ve said for years, if you light it, they will come,” said Lynxwiler, who leads a popular tour in L.A. called “The Neon Cruise.”
“Neon tourism is a real thing, and I and many other folks travel the world just to see and snap pics of these disappearing neon signs,” said Lynxwiler. “And that one is adorable.”
