Signs of the times

For the Chicago Tribune

A classic restaurant sign is more than just an advertisement for good food and vintage charm. Several signs in the Chicago area were built more than 50 years ago, representing a bygone era in which going out to eat was still considered an exciting occasion and a novel opportunity for fun.

Customers usually can't resist gathering around to take pictures in front of these signs. Many diners are enticed into trying a new eatery based on the sign alone, owners say, while others come back to the same restaurants year after year to greet these historical landmarks like old friends.

Recently we asked readers to tell us which restaurants have marquees that stand out and interviewed the owners about the signs' history. Whether they shine as neon beacons in the night or stand as cultural markers of previous generations, these Chicago-area restaurant signs continue to turn heads as customer favorites.

Margie's Candies
1960 N. Western Ave., Chicago
Peter George, owner: "The sign has my mother's name on it, and was constructed by Acme Wiley Sign Company in 1954. It's made up of porcelain, metal and neon. My mother paid $3,500 for the sign, which was about as much as a Cadillac cost back then. It costs about $200 a month to maintain, but it's worth it."

Merichka's
604 Theodore St., Crest Hill
Joe Merichka Jr., co-owner: "Our dad (Joe Merichka Sr.) was a lithographer, artist and designer for a greeting card company in Joliet. He and my grandmother Mary ('Merichka' in Slovenian) started the restaurant in 1933, and had the sign made in 1960 … in the shape of a boomerang, because people kept coming back."

Booby's Charcoal Rib
8161 N. Milwaukee Ave., Niles
John Protofanousis, co-owner: "Booby's is a family-owned business. The original owner died, but his wife Sally Friedman still works here with us. The guy on the sign is Mr. Friedman, and is boyhood nickname was 'Booby,' so he named the restaurant after himself. The sign's been up since the place opened in 1961, and it's very well made — but we haven't had to touch it up since."

Buffo's
431 Sheridan Rd., Highwood
Lenny Innocenzi, owner: "The name 'Buffo' means 'court jester' or 'clown' in Italian. I wanted a joker to put on the roof of the restaurant, so I got a company called Skyline Designs to make it up. It's one of the biggest draws in town, and everyone loves it."

Fish Keg
2233 W. Howard St., Chicago
Monty Williamson, owner: "We opened in 1951, and the sign went up shortly after. My cousin, my father-in-law and his brother designed the sign, and MK Signs (on Elston Avenue in Chicago) manufactured it. We took it down once about 10 years ago, and the building looks bare without it — people drove right by us. So we fixed the sign, put it back up, and now we see families outside taking pictures in front of it almost every day."

Bill's Pizza & Pub
624 S. Lake St., Mundelein
Bill Kwiatkowski, owner: "In 1957, I found an old Rexall Drug sign at a shop in Waukegan and re-designed it with neon. Our restaurant opened that same year, and the sign went up with it."

Johnny's Wee Nee Wagon
15743 Crawford Ave., Markham
John Cappas, owner: "The 6-foot hot dog we have in front is like our mascot —all of the kids love taking pictures with him. We also have a fluorescent sign in the back, which is my dad's liquor store sign from 1929 that he got right around the time that Prohibition ended. My dad opened the Wee Nee Wagon in 1955, and a few years ago, I told him to bring Cappas Bros. Liquors sign here for our patio."

Graziano's Brick Oven Pizza
5960 W. Touhy Ave., Niles
Steven Demet, owner: "Our restaurant has been open for 20 years, and the sign has been up for 15. Arrow Signs was the company that manufactured it, with made the 'A' of Grazianos is in the triangular shape of a pizza."

Palace Grill
1408 W. Madison St., Chicago
George Lemperis, owner: "Our sign has been up since 1938, and we're celebrating our 75th anniversary this year. You don't see a lot of neon signs anymore, because they're very expensive to maintain, but ours is a real conversation starter. We're a classic diner, and it's a classic diner sign."

Delish Diner
2018 W. Division, Chicago
Charles Kowalski, co-owner: "The sign itself has been around for about 60 years in the Chicagoland area. It was originally outside of a diner at Hollywood and Ridge for 50 years, and then my brother purchased the sign from them about two years ago. It was made before I was born. Now we live in a Yelp generation where people make up their minds about a place before they come in … but this sign is a piece of history."

Q's Restaurant & Pizzeria
4841 Butterfield Rd., Hillside
Mike Allred, owner: "A company here in Hillside, Chicago Neon, made our sign with neon and porcelain. The big letter Q stands for 'quality plus quantity.' Everyone in the neighborhood uses it as a landmark: 'We're right near the Big Q sign, you can't miss it!' A lot of people through this years have told us that they'll just be driving down Butterfield Road, see the sign and think, 'I should stop in and see what this place is about.'"

Henry's Drive-In
6031 W. Ogden Ave., Cicero
Sue Biernacki, manager: "There was a different sign on the roof in the 1950s when Henry's first opened, but our current neon sign has been up since my family bought the place from Henry's original owners 22 years ago. People are always coming by to take pictures of the hot dog sign and tell me how they like the slogan ('It's a Meal In Itself')."

Seven Dwarfs Family Restaurant
917 E. Roosevelt Rd., Wheaton
Sam Sadiku, owner: "I've been at the restaurant since April 1, 1979. The restaurant alone has been here 56 years, and so has the sign. There were two owners before me, and the original owner died over 30 years ago. He got the idea for the sign when he saw 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' in the 1940s. I have customers who come here for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day ... and I have new people coming in all the time because of the sign."

Sawa's Old Warsaw Restaurant
9200 W. Cermak Rd., Broadview
Stuart Sawa, owner: "The sign's been up for about 50 years. Right Way Signs maintains it, and changed the face of it — because it used to be a sign for an Italian restaurant called Parella's in the 1970s. The design is very unique, like a storybook. It also lets people know that we have alcohol."