A piece of Phoenix history restored: Arby's neon sign will glow again on East Thomas Road

KiMi Robinson | The Republic | azcentral.com

Steve Skye has been going to the Arby’s on 38th Street and Thomas Road “for forever.”

So when he learned that the restaurant — and its famous neon 10-gallon hat sign outside — would undergo renovations, he hoped the sign would stay.

“You just don't see the old stuff around anymore. There are very few things that are still there like they were when I was growing up,” said Skye, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 50 years.

Skye’s wish came true when the franchisee that operates the restaurant asked for his help in preserving the iconic sign — something that could only be accomplished by an expert in signmaking.

Why Skye? Because “All I’ve ever done is signs.”

Arizona’s last neon hat

The Arby’s restaurant at 3826 E. Thomas Road has been around at least five decades. Though other locations with neon signs have come and gone, the Thomas store has remained, according to Jay Johnson, vice president of the franchisee that owns the restaurant.

But the decision to keep the sign in operation after remodeling was not an easy one. It’s an expensive endeavor, and they needed to find a specialist who could take on such a labor-intensive job.

Ultimately, preserving the local monument won out over cost-cutting.

“We just felt there was some history and some nostalgia there from a sign that people that grew up with Arby's just kind of remember and know about,” Johnson said.

“Keeping the original sign kind of just seemed like the right thing to do."

No detail spared

Refurbishing the neon was no small task. The project, which took one month to complete, required tracking down some Arby’s history: Johnson had to find former Arby’s employees who would know how to recreate the exposed neon sign’s original colors in the '70s. The entirety of the sign’s interior had to be redone, and the transformers were replaced. The old incandescent light bulbs were replaced with brighter LED lights, and the ceramic face had to be rebuffed.

“We wanted to keep everything right like it was originally,” Johnson said.

The old-school neon, however, presented a unique challenge for Skye, who works for sign and lighting company YESCO.

“Those units are not easy to bend. It's a specialty, the detail that went into that when it was first made,” he said.

“A standard letter has four or five bends, but one of these had, like, 12. So it was a lot of labor, really intensive labor. We made all the neon; we didn't just repair it."

Longtime customers who have returned to the restaurant since its renovation were also struck by its new interior design, Johnson said. Paying homage to the original Arby’s, built in Boardman, Ohio, in 1964, the dining room features wood, Edison light bulbs, and white subway tile.

Giving back to Arizonans

Arby’s will take the opportunity of the restaurant’s grand reopening on Tuesday, Nov. 12, to donate $30,000 to St. Mary’s Food Bank. The donation, which reflects the cost of the sign’s restoration, is estimated to be able to supply 200,000 meals to Arizona residents in need.

At 7 a.m. on Tuesday, just as the sun rises, Skye will see the results of his hard work formally unveiled to the public.

"At night, you see the glow from a mile away,” said Skye. “It's pretty spectacular.”