[ Joyce Brite wrote in 100819 MMDigest:

> I disagree.  The sign has been up there for over fifty years and it's
> part of the history of the building.  I was very relieved to see it
> was still there.  It's an easy way to identify the building to others.

One way or another the sign will inevitably disappear if it is not
salvaged.  If it is abandoned just for the sake of "being there" it
will ultimately deteriorate, regardless.

The bigger threat, however, is that it is mounted on a piece of
tangible real estate that represents investment.  The building will
not remain boarded up forever.  Someone someday will buy it, gut it,
remodel it into something else, and the sign will end up in a dumpster.
The sign may be 50 years old but I doubt a developer will care.

On the other hand, it can be placed in the careful hands of a serious
music machine collector where it will be proudly displayed with the
machines that it represents and passed on to future generations.  The
former business will survive in photographs, in stories, and the sign.
I am very nostalgic about preserving history including buildings but
there are certain realities to consider.

It would be tragic if someone announced that they drove by and
discovered it was gone or it had been ruined by gang tagging.  So who
gets it?  I don't know.  Draw straws, have a contest, pick numbers from
a ping pong ball tumbler -- the important thing is that nothing happens
to it!

Rob Goodale,
Las Vegas, Nevada