Neon

The blue and orange neon has beckoned the famous, scandal-ridden and just plain hungry for more than two decades: "Delicatessen" . . . "Breakfast" . . . "Kosher-Style Sandwiches."And Chick Levitt would like to keep it that way.The bow-tied proprietor of Chick & Ruth's Delly on Main Street is planning to appear before the City Council tonight to ask for an exception to a recent ordinance banning neon signs in the Historic District."The front of my store is my image," says Mr. Levitt, 65, poking the elbow of his interviewer for emphasis just before the lunch-hour rush, "just like my bow tie."

Sans his usual bow tie, Chick Levitt stayed up well past his usual bedtime last night to lobby the Annapolis City Council for a reprieve for the blue and orange neon sign that decorates the window of his well-known sandwich shop.By 10:15 p.m., after meeting for nearly three hours, the council hadn't even begun to consider the issue of the sign at Chick & Ruth's Delly."I get up at 4 a.m. every day to go to work," said Mr. Levitt. "The fTC main thing I'm trying to say is that I'm not asking for special treatment, I'm asking them not to take something from me. The next thing they'll tell me is I can't hang a Hanukkah bush in the window during the holidays."

If Hampden's Cafe Hon decided to open a martini bar, it would be very much like the new Neon Moon in Canton: It's at once old-fashioned and amazingly Now.You have to love the looks of this place. The exterior has been painted bright yellow, with glass brick and blue neon outlining the front door.If I had to pick my favorite part of the decor, it would be the trompe l'oeil wall in the bar that looks like a night sky full of clouds. Sit here and sip a selection from the martini menu. But the dining room in back is great, too. The look is a sort of '50s retro deco -- eclectic, yes, but it works, with walls sponge-painted a soft yellow, sconces, more glass brick, brightly patterned banquettes and napkins in crayon-box colors.

Scott "Mo Daddy" Mohler, a Frederick native who grew up in Glen Burnie, graduated from Glen Burnie High and spent some of his free time drag racing near the Interstate 70 Park and Ride, has become the world's quickest and fastest All-Motor, Dodge Neon driver. He earned the title last week at the National Hot Rod Association event in New Jersey, where he completed the quarter-mile course in his 1998 Neon in 10.62 seconds at 128 mph and won the Sports Compact Pro Stock Class. "I'm just an average Joe," he said via cell phone after completing his day's labor as a call-center supervisor at Adelphia cable company.

If any two things can be described as slices of Americana, one is neon lights and the other is Earl Seth's small sign and printing company in East Baltimore.Buzzing, bending and blinking, neon signs conjure images of soda fountains and motel vacancies. Mr. Seth's shop, National Graphics, started as a one-man show in the 1940s postwar boom and once ballooned to 135 employees.But competition leaves little room for nostalgia. So Mr. Seth, born in 1923, is taking on neon lights, another product of the 1920s.

You've seen her work up in lights from the loping 80-foot pink wave gracing the BWI Sheraton to the animated representation of a home run in the film "Major League II."Although her creations have won her praise, neon artist Haley Ryane does more than just practice her art. The 32-year-old has turned her studio, Savage Neon in Oella, into one of eight studios in the country offering a comprehensive course in neon creation."People don't really know that neon is available as a hobby. It's not really advertised that way," the studio owner said.

Move over "Domino Sugars" -- there's another big sign lighting up Baltimore's skyline.To call attention to the newly christened Westside neighborhood known as UniversityCenter, property owners have erected a large neon sign atop the tallest building in the area, the 16-story Bressler Research Building.By day, the white letters that spell out "UniversityCenter" can be seen for blocks, from key vantage points such as Interstate 95 and Oriole Park at Camden Yards.By night, when the neon lights are turned on, they seem to float in the air.Either way, visitors no longer need a compass to find this campus.

Nowadays, the breakfast chatter at Chick & Ruth's Delly centers on just one thing: Will "the sign" still shine on Main Street in Annapolis?"Some customers were congratulating me on keeping the sign, but they were premature," said deli proprietor Chick Levitt, of the three-word blue and orange neon sign hanging in the window.Mr. Levitt and his customers must wait until Oct. 11 for the Annapolis City Council's decision on whether the sign will be allowed to remain despite a new law banning all neon from the Historic District.

Neon banner lights Harford sky On a holiday marked by firecrackers, parades and backyard barbecues, David and Nancy Rose sought a unique way to mark the occasion - Old Glory rendered in neon high above their Harford County farm. They built an 8-foot-by-16-foot version of the U.S. flag with neon lights, framed in aluminum and mounted on a radio tower. The creation might be a bit gaudy, but the whole point was to inspire a little sentiment, David Rose said. "Maybe it will get people thinking about all the people we have in military service who are not here to enjoy the Fourth of July," he said.

It spells "Domino Sugars," but it says Baltimore.And from its angled perch some 16 stories above the water, it speaks with an accent that is pure Bawlmer. No one even pronounces the final, 10-foot tall "s.""I can see it from my kitchen window. When I'm sitting down eating dinner, I can see it," says Liz Hartlove, who runs a family bar on Fort Avenue and has spent all her 52 years in South Baltimore. "When you see that sign, you know you're home."That sign is the second-largest field of neon on the East Coast; a 120-by-70-foot neon Polaris that has cast its blood-orange radiance across the the upriver waters of the Patapsco since April 25, 1951 -- 650 neon tubes searing a 760-amps-per-hour image into the psyche of Charm City.