Restoration

The Fabulous Seven Motel neon sign was restored by a team of people from the San Diego Air and Space Museum and Neon Jungle, all under the leadership of Esteban Villaneuva. The lead restorer was Mark Weixeldorfer.

Originally, the sign was going to be removed, but upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the sign had no internal structure capable of being used to hoist the sign off the pole, so the decision was made to restore the sign in location.

A work surface was created for the cranes, lifts and trucks, and a lift was used to remove all the original neon tubes and channel letters. The sign was sandblasted and sanded down to bare metal, primed, then painted.

Paint colors were selected by Peter DaSilva, Danitza Villaneuva and David Vich. The idea was to have a retro feel in the day, and then super saturated and powerful neon colors at night allowing the changing sunlight to create three different signs- daytime, dusk and nighttime.

The channel letters were reinstalled, new neon tubes were bent and installed and everything reconnected.

And finally- on April 22, 2026 – RELIGHTING.