Audio By Carbonatix
You’d best hustle if you wanna buy your liquor at the Sigel’s on Lemmon Avenue and Inwood Road. By month’s end, the boozeteria’s gotta be gone as the Lemmonwood Shopping Center prepares for its demolition. But the stock’s already almost long gone: A 20-percent-off sale, notice of which was sent to regulars a few weeks back, has nearly drained dry the shelves — though enough product remained as of Thursday eve to guarantee the best Easter ever, so snap to. Sigel’s employees guesstimate last call come this time next week.
But the bigger question is: What’ll become of the landmark neon sign that’s been illuminating the street corner since the liquor shop’s opening in the mid-1950s? We’re not the only ones wondering.
“We’ve had more people call us about the sign,” Ellen LaBate, Sigel’s veep of operations, tells Unfair Park. “We have to take it down, but we’re not giving it up. We’ll probably use it” at another location, she says. “But lots of customers have been very concerned about the sign. It’s almost a monument, it seems. People come from all over to take pictures.” And, sure enough, Flickr provides ample proof of folks’ affection for the sign. There’s even a mosaic in homage.
This much is certain: The sign can’t be reproduced, certainly not at 1954 prices. One Sigel’s employee asked a sign-maker how much it’d cost to redo the thing. Oh, ’round $75,000.
When news happens, Dallas Observer is there —
Your support strengthens our coverage.
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If the Dallas Observer matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
And, you ask, what’s going to replace Sigel’s and the sign?
A bank. Need a drink?
