Tonnelle Avenue / North Bergen, NJ
The Colonial Neon Co. Inc was established by Charlie Sabatini, John Sabatini, and Rocco Nocera in the early 1920’s era located in North Bergen, NJ. They also had offices and sign shops in New York City, NY, Boston, MA, and Gastonia, NC. Colonial was definitely a family owned and operated business. John Sabatini was President, Rocco Nocera was Vice President, (John’s brother) Charlie Sabatini was Secretary, and Anthony Guccione was the Treasurer.
The Colonial Neon Company Inc. manufactured and produced a wide variety of counter top and bar back lighted neon signs and outdoor porcelain enamel neon signs as well as general lighting fixtures for commercial clients. With the repeal of national Prohibition in 1933, Colonial Neon Company Inc. saw a promising market in developing glass neon advertising signs for the large numbers of breweries that were now back in business and looking to get ahead of the crowd to advertise their brewery and products.
The difference between a regular neon sign and a Colonial neon sign is all how they were built and the style they used; most of the signs they made were considered bar back signs. Bar back neon signs would have been displayed behind the bar, up on shelves, or atop of a cash register. The overall style and design of the sign was reminiscent of the art deco era. Colonial made neon signs with hidden transformers built into the base sometimes back-lite base as well as illuminated protruding neon letters. Some of their bases has fancy reverse painted glass in them that would sometimes be illuminated. They would also have die-cut letters placed behind the neon letters onto of the sign.
The look and style of these lights resemble those that were made by another advertising sign company called Biolite, Inc. from NY who made bubbler lighted signs around the same era. One of their most notable jobs was outfitting the clubhouse lighting for the Yonkers Raceway horserace track back in the 1950’s.
The Colonial Neon Company made neon signs for breweries like Krueger, Piels, Ballentine, Hornungs, Ruppert, Knickerbacher, and Stegmaier just to name a few. They also manufactured large double sided outdoor signs for various gas and oil companies like Standard Oil Company, ExxonMobil, and Esso.
John Sabatini bought out the Rocco Nocera in 1961 to take control go the business. John operated the company up until the late 1960’s when he ceased operations and closed Colonial Neon Company.
Below are a few examples of Colonial Neon Co. Inc. signs:
