Posted by Heather David
Image appears courtesy Lorri Nicolini
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4-25-20
For over 8 years, I have actually been working to reveal the back story of one of my all-time preferred NorCal indications– the towering rotating neon indication with a starburst on top at Coddingtown Shopping mall in Santa Rosa. Recently, the missing puzzle piece arrived in an email. The total story of how I concern this post today is long, and includes at least 20 micro stories– an interconnected web of individuals, experiences, Google searches, and great old-fashioned note taking– I’ll save that saga for the few that really dig this kind of stuff. Here’s the extremely shortened version … Last week, I connected to the daughter of John Nicolini, among the “all-star team” of sign designers working for Electrical Products Corp. (EPCO) in Oakland in the early 1960s. I wanted to share with her a few of the images I had discovered of her father’s sign-related work and see if she had any of his original sign makings. She said that she didn’t believe that she did. Nicolini was a lifelong artist and left EPCO/Federal in 1968 to begin his own organization. The majority of the work that she had of his was more recent. And then came the magic concern … “Did your dad ever reveal you a few of the indications he created, perhaps while driving around town?” She stopped briefly for a moment. The response was “Yes!” There was a shopping center register in Santa Rosa … a sign that he was especially happy with. Her mom has a photo of the initial making. The photo was displayed at the event of his life event (John Nicolini passed in 2014). The next day, John’s child sent me an image file. See above. John Nicolini– born in San Francisco in 1923, graduate of Fremont High School in Oakland, a WWII veteran, a graduate of CCAC in Oakland, fan of sports and Jazz, and a long-lasting artist– designed the indication for Coddingtown Shopping center in Santa Rosa. I’m not sure why this matters however I know that for me, it does.
Tags:
Electrical Products Corp., EPCO, indication, rendering, illustration, Coddingtown, mall, Santa, Rosa, California, 1960s, Santa Rosa, John Nicolini
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