Passersby may not notice much in the way of changes when they walk or drive past the site of the new Neon Sign Museum at the corner of Third Street and Court streets in The Dalles, but looks can be deceiving.
Almost a full year since work on the planned new museum began in earnest, the facility is beginning to take shape — on the inside, at least — and organizers of the project are tentatively pointing toward an August opening for at least part of the facility.
David Benko of Vancouver, Wash., is the man behind the idea for the Neon Sign Museum. Benko is an avid collector of neon signs and related historical memorabilia. He said he has tens of thousands of artifacts, including hundreds of neon signs, at his Vancouver shop.
“I started collecting when I was 8,” said Benko. Portions of his extensive, historic collection will be one of the main features of the new museum.
Benko explained that the seed of the concept for siting the museum in The Dalles came from a friend.
“I’d spent a long time looking around Portland, Vancouver, and Camas area for a suitable building for my collection,” Benko said. “A friend said he saw an amazing building in The Dalles, and when we came out here, from the first minute I saw it, I liked it.” The building was designed and built as an Elks Lodge, and from the time it opened in 1915 until it was vacated about a decade ago, that is what it was.
Now it’s being transformed into an attractive museum that will feature neon signs, classic movie posters and much more.
The remodeling — rebuilding is actually more accurate — of the former Elks Lodge is a major endeavor that won’t come cheap.
“It will cost a couple million bucks before we’re done,” said Rob Bearden, one of the museum project’s board members.
Bearden, who lives in Portland, said that while the outside of the building has not seen much refurbishing so far, what’s going on inside has been dramatic.
“On the outside, we’re trying to be respectful of the original architecture and we haven’t done much,” Bearden said.
“But people will be blown away when they walk inside.”
Benko said the outside of the building will be renovated as well, although not as extensively as in the interior.
“This spring we’ll get started on the outside of the building,” he said. “Tentatively we’ll open sometime in August; we want to be open at some level for the city’s Neon Nights events.”
Gary Rains, business development director for the city of The Dalles, said the city bought the building for approximately $180,000 in 2015 as an urban renewal project.
The building was then donated to Benko to be transformed into a museum.
Rains pointed out, however, that there is a key stipulation on the donation of the building: Benko has two years to open the facility, or he’ll lose it.
“We’ve been gifted the building. We own it, but it’s subject to us opening,” Benko explained.
According to Rains, if the city had not stepped in, the building would probably have been demolished. Rains added that the aging two-story structure had been on the market with a reported price tag of $450,000, and the real estate firms listing it said the building was not drawing much interest.
“Everything was out of date, it had not been touched in decades,” Rains said. “It needed new plumbing and new electrical systems. We wanted somebody to put their heart and soul into it. It took a year to get permits and architectural plans, but it’s amazing what has been done. He’s turning it into something the city can be proud of.”
“This will be a one of a kind museum and will save an important building in our town,” said Mayor Steve Lawrence. “Visitors will come from all over the country and with our tour boats, from all over the world.”
Benko’s team took over the building in April 2015, and began working once the necessary permits were in place. Significant work started in April 2016, and most of the workers renovating the museum are from The Dalles, including Doug Jenkins Electric and Two Dogs Plumbing.
“We use local contractors as much as possible,” Benko said.
Bearden said the vision for the museum is ambitious.
“Once the signs are lit and in context, it will be like walking down Main Street in the Midwest in the early 1950s,” Bearden said.
The signs on display will be rotated to keep the exhibits fresh.
“There will probably be 1,000 signs on display of all sizes,” Benko explained. “There will be changing exhibits, i.e., gas station signs, motel signs, Northwest-related signs.”
According to Benko, three classrooms are being built downstairs, which will provide a “good vocational learning space” for students from the high school or the community college.
“There is also a four-station working neon plant, for demonstrations and apprenticeships,” Benko added.
Also under construction inside the building are a cafe, a small theater, and an art gallery.
“It should be a beautiful community space,” Bearden said.
Bearden said the museum project is making a lot of progress, but he is eager to see the finished product.
“It’s never fast enough,” he said. “But you can only do so much.”
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