Successful Ad or City Landmark?

I don’t know why, but I find it disheartening to know that the Farine Five Roses sign is no longer lit up at night – and moreover, that it might be dismantled altogether (!!!). What’s more, I’m not alone. Since the new plant owners have turned off the sign and consideration has been given to removing it, a movement (albeit small) has formed to protect the sign as an historic landmark. I even found a blog (who’s name suggests) that it’s devoted to saving the sign (although it really doesn’t seem all that devoted if you ask me…). Check out the blog here.


So what is it exactly about a 20-foot tall ad that makes us feel that kind of attachment? I think that it’s just a ritualistic association. A constant, if you will. When I used to take the bus in the Pointe, I thought that I could feel warmth of the red letters shining on the skyline, and that the blinking neon kept a beat like a metronome. Trite, perhaps, but strangely, I believed it.

I have seen the sign regularly throughout my life, but I’ve also seen the Super Sexe sign on Sainte-Catherine -- perhaps even more often -- and I wouldn’t feel terribly nostalgic about that sign going to the dumpster.

I wonder if I’d feel the same way if the Salada sign near the intersection of Décarie and the 40 were suddenly in jeopardy?

R.I.P. Farine Five Roses, I’ll miss you.

Factoid:
According to this Montreal Gazette article, the sign used to read Farine Ogilvie Flour, and then Farine Five Roses Flour, before it’s current incarnation as Farine Five Roses.

Photo credit: Mr. T.