Zubow Realty yanked its notorious orange-and-black neon sign
Tuesday morning, ending a 40-year-plus reign for the glitzy and
controversial downtown landmark.
By Tony Burchyns – Staff Writer
Morgan Hill – Zubow Realty yanked its notorious orange-and-black neon sign Tuesday morning, ending a 40-year-plus reign for the glitzy and controversial downtown landmark.
The removal of the 1,000-pound sign – which infused Morgan Hill’s tiny strip with a bit of Las Vegas-style gaudiness – was hard for passers-by to miss.
“I can’t tell you how many people stopped this morning to ask why we were taking the sign down,” said Zubow manager Ted Glenn. “We just told them we’re downsizing, and weren’t going to use it anywhere.”
Installed in the early 1960s by real estate mogul Ivan Zubow, who wanted to make a big splash, the sign sparked a local controversy after some people considered it too garish for downtown.
In later years, the city’s sign code would block such large and flashy monuments, but Zubow’s sign was grandfathered in only to become an emblem of the freewheeling 1960s.
“The city was trying to get rid of that sign forever,” said Richard Young, 72, owner of Young Signs in Gilroy, who installed the sign with his father and also hauled it away this week. “Some people liked it and some people didn’t. It really shows how interesting some of the early real estate people were. Ivan wanted his name in lights, a little glitz to represent his image.”
Founded in 1963, Zubow Realty became an integral part of Morgan Hill and San Martin’s real estate landscape. The company developed several notable tracks of land and built one of Monterey Road’s first strip malls, Candy Park. More recently, in the 1990s, Zubow developed 34 homes off Diana Avenue west of U.S. 101 and north of Dunne Avenue.
Now basically retired, Zubow, 71, lives in Brazil but still keeps an eye on the company, Glenn said.
As to the sign’s future, Glenn said it’s been hauled off for scrap metal. Meanwhile, the company plans to move its three-person operation from 17505 Monterey Road to 5 West First St., by July 1. The company peaked at more than 10 employees in the 1990s.
Magpie, a downtown gift shop, plans to rent Zubow’s old space by Aug. 1.
Tony Burchyns covers Morgan Hill for The Times. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 201 or oBy
