Parkside diner neon

To me, neon lighting is magical.  A glass tube filled with an exotic gas made to glow when thousands of volts of electricity is injected into the ends.  The color is intense and the carefully formed but somewhat primitive designs have an old-time nostalgic quality.

Of course neon gas only creates the quintessential red-orange signage.  In this case there is also blue which is produced by argon and mercury.  There are additional colors possible using other gasses, sometimes in combination with phosphor coatings inside the tube.

Neon led to the development of florescent lighting, todays widely used but less loved illumination technology. But that greenish-white light holds no magic for me, certainly not when compared to the colors of neon.