Crews in Santa Monica, California, started taking apart the blue neon arch at the entrance to the city’s pier on Tuesday, October 20, and the 85-year-old sign is headed for Las Vegas. It is not retiring there. The City of Santa Monica is sending it to YESCO, a Las Vegas sign company the city describes as nationally recognized for building, maintaining and restoring neon, and expects it back on the pier in late 2027.
The city set out a three-day sequence. Workers set up equipment and began pulling the neon on Tuesday, the crown piece at the top of the arch was scheduled to come off on Wednesday, October 21, and the main sign on Thursday, October 22. Work runs from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the city has marked two viewing spots for anyone who wants to watch: Palisades Park at its southern end, opposite The Lobster restaurant, and the corner of Ocean and Colorado avenues.
Why the sign has to move
The arch stands on the Pier Bridge, the 1939 span that carries traffic and pedestrians from Ocean Avenue down to the pier deck. That bridge is being replaced under a 24-month, $35 million contract with Shimmick Construction, and about 75 percent of the cost, more than $30 million, comes from the federal Highway Bridge Program, according to the city’s October 2025 project announcement. The replacement is designed for current seismic standards, a 75-year service life, wider sidewalks and realigned walkways on the deck.
A bridge cannot be demolished with a 20-foot steel arch still bolted to it, so the sign goes first. The city’s project page describes a careful teardown: the power is cut, the neon tubes are “removed and safely crated,” the crown is unbolted and lifted off by crane, and the arched truss and columns are lowered into steel shipping frames. Each part travels on its own flatbed trailer.
In Nevada, the planned work includes rust removal, repainting and structural repairs. “The sign is not being removed permanently or replaced,” the city states on its project page. When it returns, the city plans to mount it higher than before for better visibility and clearance.
What the arch actually advertises
The Santa Monica Pier Business Men’s Association unveiled the sign on June 17, 1941. It still carries its original wording, “Santa Monica Yacht Harbor – Sport Fishing – Boating – Cafes,” though the yacht harbor it promotes, which once kept moorings for Hollywood names such as Charlie Chaplin, had faded out by the early 1980s. The California Department of Parks and Recreation declared the arch a historic landmark in 1996, and it is listed on the California Register of Historical Resources.
The schedule has already slipped once
Viral posts about the sign leave out the calendar. When the city council approved the bridge contract in October 2025, the published timeline had the sign coming down in January 2026, rehabilitation running until September 2027, and reinstallation that same September. The removal has instead landed in the second half of October 2026, about nine months behind that plan. City statements now tie the return to the end of bridge construction in late 2027, and the 2025 schedule put overall completion in December 2027.
That timing sets the length of the absence. Counting from October 2026, a return between September and December 2027 means the arch will spend roughly 11 to 14 months away from the pier, and the city has said the new bridge will be ready well ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Where to get the photo in the meantime
A half-scale replica, installed in October 2025, stands mid-pier next to Pier Burger, close to the entrance of the Pacific Park amusement area, and it lights up after dark. Restaurants, shops and parking stay open through construction, with a temporary pedestrian bridge linking Ocean Avenue to the deck.
The last of the original arch, the main sign itself, is scheduled to be lifted off on Thursday, October 22.
Further reading
Image: AramilFeraxa, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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