“Chicago is losing another iconic neon sign.

“The sign for Uptown’s Foremost Liquors — with yellowed neon bulbs that lit up the historic Argyle Street for 70 years — was sold to an Indiana collector and taken away Tuesday as the business prepares to move across the street.

“It’s the second Chicago classic sign moved out of the city by private collectors in the past month, as local preservationists scrape to find solutions and incentives for small business owners to keep up them as bright odes to mid-century history.

“Sabrina Hotza, whose grandfather bought the liquor store at 1040 W. Argyle St. in the 1970s, said selling the towering sign was a tough decision after the family couldn’t move it with them under current city code.

“‘It was very emotional,’ Hotza said. ‘My biggest concern was leaving it there and then it would get scrapped.’

“The City Council passed an ordinance in 2023, backed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, allowing for new building owners to maintain designated ‘vintage signs’ even if the permits for the signs had expired. Kelsey McClellan said her team ‘sought clarification’ from the city and Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th) if the exemption still applied if the sign moved across the street.

“‘The bureaucracy of the city was too slow to save it,’ McClellan said. ‘There’s no system set up to save these signs.’

“Manaa-Hoppenworth said the city is exploring ways to update laws to strengthen protections for classic signs.

“‘We worked with Foremost Liquors and [business development group] Uptown United to do everything we could to save the sign,’ Manaa-Hoppenworth said. ‘[W]hile I’m sad to lose this piece of history in Uptown, we’re very glad that this legacy business is able to stay on Argyle.’

“The sign features yellow neon light bulbs for its lettering and a distinctive arrow shape that is “quintessential of 1950s, mid-century design,” McClellan said.

“The sign had been up for 70 years as Uptown absorbed diverse communities, from white Appalachian workers to refugees of the Vietnam War. McClellan called the sign a “landmark” of Argyle Street, which has become a historic Asian-American business and cultural corridor.

“‘It’s a memory of what the neighborhood has been,’ McClellan said. ‘There’s the Uptown Theatre, which hopefully will be restored, but in terms of a business, this was the last neon sign of that time.’ (Savedra and Liederman, Block Club Chicago, 3/27/26)

Read the full story at Block Club Chicago

• Chicago Loses Another Classic Neon Sign As Foremost Liquors Marquee Comes Down
  The Argyle Street store’s owners sold the sign to an Indiana collector as they prepare to move their business across the street. It is the second iconic neon sign moved out of the city in the past month, Madison Savedra and Mack Liederman, Block Club Chicago, 3/27/26
• Neon Signs, A Preservation Chicago 2015 Chicago 7 Most Endangered