New book brings light to Utah’s neon history – St George News

File photo of the Sands Motel sign first put up in 1953, St. George, Utah, June 11, 2014 | Photo by Rhonda Tommer, St George News

SALT LAKE CITY — Lisa Michele Church admits she never really intended on documenting history. Yet her fascination with the past coupled with the skills she’s learned through her career and other hobbies have helped mold her into one of Utah’s more well-known community historians.

Lisa Michele Church, author of the book “Vintage Signs of Utah,” holds up a copy of the book during the Utah State Historical Society Conference, Salt Lake City, Oct. 26, 2022 | Photo by Carter Williams, KSL.com, St George News

Now she’s compiled “Vintage Signs of Utah,” a book that essentially serves as a field guide to unique and historic signs across the state. It features close to 300 captivating signs for cafes, motels, theaters and various other businesses in Utah, and the stories behind them.

Many of these feature different signs across the state. There’s the iconic Walker Center sign in downtown Salt Lake City, the vintage neon KoKoMo Club sign in Ogden and the equally stylish Dixie Bowl & Billiards sign in St. George to name a few.

One of her favorite signs is the bright Sands Motel sign in St George, which dates back to the road trip boom of the 1940s and 1950s. For her, it tells the origin story of modern-day tourism in southern Utah.

Read the full story here: KSL News.

Written by CARTER WILLIAMS, KSL.com.

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