Electric Avenue

This Map of Local Neon Signs Is a Walk Through of Old Portland History

Kate Widdows is helping show off our city's "exceptional collection of neon."

By Sam Pape September 23, 2020 Published in the October 2020 issue of Portland Monthly

Kate Widdows’s neon map helps the curious discover and admire the most beautiful, iconic neon in town, from the Alibi to the Laurelhurst Theater.

In 2013, while wandering the winding streets of Geneva, Switzerland, Kate Widdows fell in love. But it wasn’t some Swiss romantic who’d swept her off her feet. It was neon. The city’s glowing signs instantly resonated with her love of bright, animated typography.

“There was no resisting it,” Widdows says. “It was like waking up to something I’d never noticed before. I boarded the neon train and never got off.”

Flash-forward to now: Widdows, a Portland-based typographer and letterer who has done work for everyone from Nike to Selena Gomez, is helping show off our city’s “exceptional collection of neon.” First debuted at TypeCon in 2018, Widdows’s neon map helps the curious discover and admire the most beautiful, iconic neon in town, from the Alibi to the Laurelhurst Theater.

Order the map at kwiddows.com or sign up for a (postpandemic) walking tour at electricletterland.com

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