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Wrigley Field marquee

16 iconic signs that define Chicago

From neon church crosses, flashing theater names, and the red Wrigley marquee

By Updated Feb 13, 2020, 3:27pm CST

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Wrigley Field marquee

Chicago may be best known for its skyscraper-filled skyline, but it's distinctive signs that decorate the tops and sides of buildings and advertise businesses arguably rank a close second.

Some of the signs are obvious and world-famous—think of the relic hanging from Wrigley Field's entrance or Chicago Theater's flashy marquee—and others are long-time fixtures in Chicago's neighborhoods beloved by locals.

It's true that some of Second City's historic favorites are gone (R.I.P. the old Zenith sign and the huge set of lips advertising Magikist looming over Chicago's expressways) but many more have survived the city's never-ending waves of redevelopment.

We've assembled 15 of the most iconic Chicago signs that you can still see today. This is not a definitive list: Let's face it, one could make a entire list from classic theater marquees alone—but rather this list includes a variety of venues from all over the city.

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Frequently cited as one of Al Capone's favorite haunts, the Green Mill represents Chicago from another era. And thankfully it is still here today, including its sign with all of its jazz-era glory and sparkle.

• Open in Google Maps

This music venue, designed a historic landmark in 2016, is no longer a ballroom. But the good news is that Aragon's iconic sign, built in a Moorish architectural style, has received a fresh coat of paint and some sprucing up.

• Open in Google Maps

Like the rest of aging Wrigley Field, the beloved red marquee hanging on the stadium's main entrance got some much-needed TLC in 2016. It remains—surprise!—one of the most photographed signs in professional sports.

• Open in Google Maps

Getty Images

Although this sign isn't the flashiest, it signifies a North Side institution. Dinkel's bakery opened in 1922 and has been baking up irresistible Bavarian recipes and powder sugar packzis ever since. The old school neon sign is a hallmark of neighborhood.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Margie's Candies has been putting smiles on peoples' faces for almost 90 years, and the interior decor of this Chicago mainstay can attest to its longevity. Hardly anything has been changed at Margie's over the years, including its rosy neon lights that flood Milwaukee, Western and Armitage.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

The Morton Salt girl is unanimous with Chicago. While the company has vacated the space, it's bold Helvetica lettering, yellow dress, and purple umbrella are still painted on the corrugated metal roof. In 2018, a developer bought the property and proposed turning it into an entertainment destination called the Salt District—the signage, of course, preserved in the renderings.

• Open in Google Maps

The hotel's historic sign was renovated in 2013—the 10-feet-tall letters are now LED instead of neon and glow light purple instead of pink. Still, the gothic script that lights up the skyline over Lake Shore Drive is one of the most recognizable signs in Chicago.

• Open in Google Maps

The businesses that line Chicago Avenue in West Town and Ukrainian Village have changed rapidly over the last decade due to gentrification, but Alcala's Western Wear continues to ride high. The Western-themed clothing store's gimmicky bucking bronco and bright neon sign turn heads every time.

• Open in Google Maps

The old Erie-LaSalle Body Shop was demolished in 2017 after more than 80 years to make room for new condos. However, the old neon sign remains a relic of what was there before the neighborhood absorbed an overflow of residents wanting close proximity to the Loop.

• Open in Google Maps

It's a small miracle, but this kitschy '60s era hotel that evokes vintage roadside Americana and it's accompanying diamond-shaped sign has managed to survive a wave of massive development in River North.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

The countless number of selfies and tracking shots in movies attest to the fact that few signs are as closely entwined with a city's identity as the Chicago Theater's six-story high sign and neon marquee. There is arguably no other sign that is moreChicago than that of this grandiose movie palace built in 1921.

• Open in Google Maps

It's telling that so many Chicagoans still call the nine-story neo-Renaissance-style building at State and Randolph on State Street "Marshall Field's" considering that it's been a Macy's since 2006. Despite the new name on the old flagship department store, the two massive Great Clocks and signs remain throughout the building.

• Open in Google Maps

Once the headquarters of the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, this brutalist building on Michigan Avenue now houses 150 apartments and its sign remains as a historic perk for tenants to admire.

• Open in Google Maps

Photos by Darris Lee Harris, courtesy of 3L Real Estate

Yes, Central Camera Co. has been in Chicago for 120 years now. Despite the endless number of technology changes the camera and film industry have witnessed over the decades, Chicagoans (specifically SAIC and Columbia College students) have kept Central Camera and its vintage sign in business.

• Open in Google Maps

Founded in 1877, the Pacific Garden Mission is the oldest homeless shelter in Chicago. Over its long history, it's moved several times from locations in the Loop to the South Loop. Since 2004, it's been at 14th Place and Canal Street, where a bright neon cross proclaiming "Jesus Saves" lights the night sky.

• Open in Google Maps

There are certainly flashier and more prominent signs in Chicago, but the neon sign hanging outside of this 55-year old pizza joint in Beverly embodies the classic south side Irish pub.

• Open in Google Maps

Let's face it: no one loves toll roads. But there's something warmly nostalgic about the neon sign above the Chicago Skyway toll plaza connecting the Indiana Toll Road to Illinois's Dan Ryan Expressway, which was given a facelift by local architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 2018.

• Open in Google Maps

SOM

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The Green Mill

Frequently cited as one of Al Capone's favorite haunts, the Green Mill represents Chicago from another era. And thankfully it is still here today, including its sign with all of its jazz-era glory and sparkle.

• Open in Google Maps

Aragon Ballroom

This music venue, designed a historic landmark in 2016, is no longer a ballroom. But the good news is that Aragon's iconic sign, built in a Moorish architectural style, has received a fresh coat of paint and some sprucing up.

• Open in Google Maps

Wrigley Field

Getty Images

Like the rest of aging Wrigley Field, the beloved red marquee hanging on the stadium's main entrance got some much-needed TLC in 2016. It remains—surprise!—one of the most photographed signs in professional sports.

• Open in Google Maps

Getty Images

Dinkel's Bakery

Although this sign isn't the flashiest, it signifies a North Side institution. Dinkel's bakery opened in 1922 and has been baking up irresistible Bavarian recipes and powder sugar packzis ever since. The old school neon sign is a hallmark of neighborhood.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Margie's Candies

Margie's Candies has been putting smiles on peoples' faces for almost 90 years, and the interior decor of this Chicago mainstay can attest to its longevity. Hardly anything has been changed at Margie's over the years, including its rosy neon lights that flood Milwaukee, Western and Armitage.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Morton Salt shed

The Morton Salt girl is unanimous with Chicago. While the company has vacated the space, it's bold Helvetica lettering, yellow dress, and purple umbrella are still painted on the corrugated metal roof. In 2018, a developer bought the property and proposed turning it into an entertainment destination called the Salt District—the signage, of course, preserved in the renderings.

• Open in Google Maps

The Drake Hotel

The hotel's historic sign was renovated in 2013—the 10-feet-tall letters are now LED instead of neon and glow light purple instead of pink. Still, the gothic script that lights up the skyline over Lake Shore Drive is one of the most recognizable signs in Chicago.

• Open in Google Maps

Alcala's Western Wear

The businesses that line Chicago Avenue in West Town and Ukrainian Village have changed rapidly over the last decade due to gentrification, but Alcala's Western Wear continues to ride high. The Western-themed clothing store's gimmicky bucking bronco and bright neon sign turn heads every time.

• Open in Google Maps

Erie-LaSalle Body Shop

The old Erie-LaSalle Body Shop was demolished in 2017 after more than 80 years to make room for new condos. However, the old neon sign remains a relic of what was there before the neighborhood absorbed an overflow of residents wanting close proximity to the Loop.

• Open in Google Maps

Ohio House Motel

It's a small miracle, but this kitschy '60s era hotel that evokes vintage roadside Americana and it's accompanying diamond-shaped sign has managed to survive a wave of massive development in River North.

• Open in Google Maps
• Foursquare

Chicago Theater

The countless number of selfies and tracking shots in movies attest to the fact that few signs are as closely entwined with a city's identity as the Chicago Theater's six-story high sign and neon marquee. There is arguably no other sign that is moreChicago than that of this grandiose movie palace built in 1921.

• Open in Google Maps

Marshall Field's

It's telling that so many Chicagoans still call the nine-story neo-Renaissance-style building at State and Randolph on State Street "Marshall Field's" considering that it's been a Macy's since 2006. Despite the new name on the old flagship department store, the two massive Great Clocks and signs remain throughout the building.

• Open in Google Maps

Old Johnson Publishing Company Inc

Photos by Darris Lee Harris, courtesy of 3L Real Estate

Once the headquarters of the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, this brutalist building on Michigan Avenue now houses 150 apartments and its sign remains as a historic perk for tenants to admire.

• Open in Google Maps

Photos by Darris Lee Harris, courtesy of 3L Real Estate

Central Camera Company

Yes, Central Camera Co. has been in Chicago for 120 years now. Despite the endless number of technology changes the camera and film industry have witnessed over the decades, Chicagoans (specifically SAIC and Columbia College students) have kept Central Camera and its vintage sign in business.

• Open in Google Maps

Pacific Garden Mission

Founded in 1877, the Pacific Garden Mission is the oldest homeless shelter in Chicago. Over its long history, it's moved several times from locations in the Loop to the South Loop. Since 2004, it's been at 14th Place and Canal Street, where a bright neon cross proclaiming "Jesus Saves" lights the night sky.

• Open in Google Maps

Fox's Restaurant & Pub

There are certainly flashier and more prominent signs in Chicago, but the neon sign hanging outside of this 55-year old pizza joint in Beverly embodies the classic south side Irish pub.

• Open in Google Maps

Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge

SOM

Let's face it: no one loves toll roads. But there's something warmly nostalgic about the neon sign above the Chicago Skyway toll plaza connecting the Indiana Toll Road to Illinois's Dan Ryan Expressway, which was given a facelift by local architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 2018.

• Open in Google Maps

SOM

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Source: https://chicago.curbed.com/maps/iconic-signs-chicago-theater-wrigley-field

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