Local artist helps renew “Oasis Bar” neon sign in Old Town

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) - Another historic Old Town Pocatello neon sign is being brought back to life with the help of a local artist.

Pocatello artist Nick Hottmann is working with Relight the Night to refurbish the historic Oasis Sports Bar neon sign on 304 N. Main Street. Hottmann spent the weekend finding the right colors and repainting the sign.

"We really wanted to make sure we kept it to the original signage, so the colors that are up there are the original colors of Oasis sign," Hottmann said.

The Oasis Sports Bar is part of the historic Old Town, being located in one of Pocatello's oldest buildings. The bar opened in 1946, but the sign wasn't erected until around 1950, according to Randy Dixon with Relight the Night.

"That neon sign has been up for a while and when I was up there cleaning everything off and updating all the stuff, you could see all the years of different coats and paints and textures and stuff like that," Hottmann said.

The Oasis sign is the 18th neon that Relight the Night has been involved in repairing since they started with the Chief Theater in 2013. Hottmann will also be involved in bringing back another historic sign, found in the basement of the bar, for the 210 Club, a bar formerly located in the back of the Oasis.

The work is being paid for in part through a $500 facade improvement grant from the City of Pocatello, Dixon said. In the months to come, Relight the Night will apply for more grants to fund rewiring the south facing side of the sign, so the neon shines towards the cars on one-way Main Street.

Hottmann's work can be found all over Old Town: at Simplot Square, Station Square, and more recently, on the front of the Monarch Hotel.