PHOTOGRAPHY ( THIS PAGE ) COURTESY OF NEW YORK SYSTEM / INSTAGRAM ; ( OPPOSITE PAGE ) COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR .

Bad news turned good at Olneyville New York System in Providence . This summer , the owner of the historic hot wieners joint learned the original , sixty-seven-year-old neon sign from 1954 had deteriorated so much that it could not be restored . Removing the neon would not save the iconic marker . “ I always say how I think the secret to our success is keeping everything the same ,” says owner Greg Stevens . “ I was scared that its replacement wouldn ’ t be the same .” Stevens consulted with Shawn Gilheeney from Providence Painted Signs about what it would take to replicate the sign . Gilheeney tapped a group of local craftspeople to help , including neon techs Elizabeth Potenza and Geometric Folk . Neon fabrication was commissioned to Nebula Neon in Brooklyn , New York . Welding company Old Bristol Line Fabrication Company facilitated the work on the frame , and the Wurks wood , metal and print shop completed the aluminum fabrication . Steel Giraffe crane moved the original ten-foot , 600-pound behemoth and installed the new one . As the new sign was hoisted up to its rightful place , Gilheeney felt a sense of relief . “ It was something I had been obsessing over to make sure it came out right ,” he says . “ It ’ s our mission to preserve sign painting as an art form and keep the tradition alive .” The switch flipped and the sign lit up again . Customers might not even notice anything has changed . “ That first night the neon came back on , I was spellbound by how much it looked like the original ,” Stevens says . 18 Plainfield St ., Providence , 621-9500 , olneyvillenewyorksystem . com — JAMIE COELHO

16 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l FEBRUARY 2022