Iconic Georgetown Sign to Be Lighted New Year’s Eve

Just in time to bring in 2016, the iconic sign for the former Georgetown Theater at Wisconsin Avenue and O Street NW will be illuminated, beginning 8 p.m., Dec. 31, through the wee hours of Jan. 1, as a preview, owner and architect Robert Bell told The Georgetowner today.

Expect to see the capital letters, “GEORGETOWN,” aglow in neon-red. The lighting of the sign—for the first time since the early 1990s—may stop a few New Year’s Eve party-goers in their tracks.

An official ceremony for the sign’s relighting is not yet scheduled because the main doors of the building are not ready, said Bell, who bought the old theater property in October 2013 and is still renovating the building at 1351 Wisconsin Ave. NW for retail and residential use.

The original sign was hauled away in September 2014 and re-done at Jack Stone Signs, which originally manufactured it in 1950. It was reinstalled in July, but not lighted.

“Restoring the neon Georgetown sign has been a project of mine for seven years,” Bell told the Georgetowner previously. “The Georgetown Theater is the missing link to restoring Wisconsin Avenue from Book Hill to M Street as one of America’s best streets. Restoring the façade and vitality of this property will be a major improvement on the quality of Wisconsin Avenue and Georgetown.”

Architect Robert Bell and his plans for the rejuvenation of the old Georgetown Theater property were the subject of a Jan. 15, 2014, Georgetowner cover story.