Tags:   vintage sign Heath Los Angeles California label

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Best known as the designer of the 1964 Dunes spectacular in Las Vegas (recipient of the General Electric Award for Sign of the Year), Lee Klay spent the greater part of his life designing signs.

Klay was born in Northhampton, Massachusetts. He got his first job in the sign business when he was still in high school.
Following service in World War II, Klay moved to Santa Barbara, California where he worked as a sign painter, billboard artist, and theater poster designer - before joining Heath & Co. in Los Angeles in 1952. Klay was Heath's first electric sign designer. It was not long before he was the recipient of numerous awards.

Following Heath, Klay joined Electrical Products Corporation in Los Angeles (circa 1958), which ultimately merged with Federal Sign (1962). Klay was the Corporate Art Director for Federal - overseeing the company's Western Division art department and 35 designers.

Around 1967, Klay returned to Heath, then moved to QRS in San Diego - where he remained until 1987.

Photo of Lee Klay by Gary Watson Photography - Hollywood.
Scanned from the book the Magic Sign by Chuck Barnard (ST Publications, 1993).

Tags:   sign designer artist Lee Klay Dunes Las Vegas Heath Electrical Products Corporation Federal Los Angeles

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Tags:   vintage signs Signs of the Times magazine Heath 1950s 1952 roadside advertising mid-century modern design

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Tags:   vintage signs Signs of the Times magazine Heath 1950s 1952 roadside advertising mid-century modern design

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Tags:   vintage signs Signs of the Times magazine Heath 1950s 1952 roadside advertising mid-century modern design

© All Rights Reserved