Valdivieso advertising sign, Neon sign in Providencia, Chile
The Valdivieso advertising sign is an 8-metre-tall rooftop structure at General Bustamante 96 in Providencia, Santiago. It consists of coloured neon tubes bent by glass artisans into the word Valdivieso and a champagne bottle, with a mechanical electromagnetic system that animates a cork leaving the bottle and champagne pouring into glasses. The slogan "¿Y hoy por qué no?" was added in 2003.
The Luminosos Parragué company built the sign in 1955, and it was installed on the rooftop around 1954–1955 at General Bustamante Street. In 2003 the slogan "¿Y hoy por qué no?" was added. On May 31, 2010, Decree No. 219 declared it a National Historic Monument during Sebastián Piñera's government. In February 2017 the National Monuments Council reported that the slogan had been replaced with "Desde siempre" without authorization.
The sign represents an era when neon advertising shaped urban nightlife and made luxury goods like champagne visible throughout the city. It shows how commercial messages became woven into Santiago's nocturnal landscape and continue to catch people's attention today.
The sign is visible from street level and is typically illuminated in the evening as darkness falls. The best time to photograph or view it is after sunset, when the neon colors shine brightest.
The slogan "Y hoy, ¿por qué no?" was added in 2003, according to a file of the Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales with a photograph taken that year. On 18 February 2017 the council reported that the sign had been altered without authorisation, the text replaced by "Desde siempre" for advertising reasons.
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