First neon art museum

The first neon art museum is the Museum of Neon Art (MONA), which was established in 1981 by Lili Lakich and Richard Jenkins in downtown Los Angeles, California, USA, in order to celebrate and preserve the skill and creativity behind neon signs. The museum was relocated to Glendale, California, in 2014.

MONA’s Glendale facility includes an Electric Lab where guests can watch skilled “tube benders” fabricate and process neon tubes, and where students of all ages can be introduced to the craft of neon with their own hands.

This is in contrast to more commercial galleries/studios where the creation and sale of neon art is the primary focus. The first of these was The Electric Gallery opened in 1970 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by neon signmaking brothers Sam and Jack Markle, though this closed down a few years later. In 1972, a similar business (part gallery, part shop, part studio), called Let There Be Neon, was founded in New York City, USA, by Rudi Stern (USA, d. 2006). Owned by Jeff Friedman since 1991, Let There Be Neon is still operational as of 2024, making it the longest-running neon art gallery.