An iconic sign along Idaho 55 in downtown Cascade was taken down on Wednesday afternoon after decades as one of Valley County’s most recognizable landmarks.
The neon sign, which originally was for The Chief Hotel, Café and Bar, had been a fixture on the building at 112 Main St., which now operates as Palooza Basecamp & Eatery, as far back as 1946.
However, repairs to the siding on the building required the sign to be removed, which meant it lost its status as a grandfathered sign under dark sky lighting rules adopted by the Cascade City Council in 2019.
“It has definitely been a little emotional,” said Jeff Tyler, who owns and operates Palooza. “It was a huge part of this building that has been such a journey for my family, and I have so much respect for the others who have lived in this town for a long time and have seen that sign often when they drove by, or got groceries. It is a very emotional experience for everyone.”
Too risky, costly
The sign, which weighs about 1,300 pounds and is about 15 feet tall, had become costly to maintain and even dangerous in recent years, Tyler told BoiseDev.
“The monthly electrical cost in addition to the constant fees to have someone come up from Boise and repair a neon sign is incredibly costly,” he said.
More recently, one of the bulbs in the sign caught fire, which made Tyler start thinking about moving on.
“I never expected a fire to result from it putting the whole building at risk. That really changed things for me,” he said. “With our hotel guests on the same floor, the risk was just too high to have it potentially catch the entire building on fire.”
Mystery buyer
Social media posts indicated the sign was put up for sale earlier this month. Tyler confirmed the sign was sold earlier this week, but did not say for how much or to whom.
Zeb Taylor, who owns A.B. Roofing and Construction and will be completing repairs to the Palooza building, told BoiseDev that he met the new owner of The Chief sign on Wednesday following a meeting with Tyler to discuss materials needed for the repairs.
“I actually gave the purchaser a ride to the Boise Airport to hop back on a plane and head back down to California,” Taylor said. “I know his name is Tom, that’s it.”
Nostalgic memories
Taylor, a Boise resident, said that the Chief sign brings back nostalgic memories of childhood trips to McCall.
“It’s just always been one of those landmarks,” he said. “As a kid, I didn’t really know the towns that well, and so I just always remember seeing the big neon Chief sign and knowing that we were at least getting close to McCall.”
The Chief sign that Taylor and many young Idahoans grew up with was a replica of the original sign, which was installed when The Chief Hotel was built in 1946.
The Chief returns
The original sign was removed in 1984 because it was in disrepair, according to an application filed with the City of Cascade in 2000 to install a replica of the sign.
“We understand that more than two million cars per year pass by our front door. Few motorists stop in Cascade,” the application said. “We believe the restoration of the old sign and name will cause a few motorists to stop and stay with us at the hotel and eat with us.”
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The replica of the sign did not meet city laws for signs at the time, but received permitting to be installed anyway.
Dark sky rules
In 2019, Cascade approved new dark sky rules that require all outdoor lighting in the city to follow standards modeled after those set by DarkSky International, an organization that aims to “restore the nighttime environment and protect communities and wildlife from light pollution.”
The new rules require all outdoor lighting to be “hooded or shielded in a downward direction” to prevent or limit light pollution.
The Chief sign was among more than two dozen signs in Cascade that were grandfathered in under the old rules, including signs for The Roxy Theatre, the Valley Club, Tackle Tom’s, and Grammas Family Restaurant.
However, the exemption becomes invalid when the signs are taken down for repair or otherwise removed, under city law.
“It was a long tradition of the town,” Cascade Mayor Judy Nissula said of the sign. “As sad as it is, things change and signs come down and signs go back up.”
