Rediscovering Golden Star Radio’s Original Colors

As restoration of the Golden Star Radio sign continued, the team faced a surprisingly difficult question: What colors should it be?

After decades above Clay Street, the sign’s paint had faded and weathered considerably. Without a good historic color photograph to work from, determining its original appearance wasn’t as simple as matching what remained on the surface.

The restoration team began looking for historic photographs that might reveal the sign’s original color scheme.

Most surviving images of Golden Star Radio were black and white, including photographs from the years when Tommy and May Chin Tong operated the business and broadcast their pioneering Chinese-language radio programs.

The team even put out a call for help, hoping someone might have an old family photograph, slide or other color image showing the sign in its earlier years.

Then the sign itself provided the answer.

As the neon tubing and its mounting hardware were removed, small areas of paint that had been protected from decades of sun and weather were exposed.

Underneath the tube supports were traces of the sign’s original colors.

The discovery gave the restoration team something far more reliable than trying to interpret decades of faded paint: actual protected samples of the original finish.

The Golden Star sign had originally featured yellow, red and white, a much brighter palette than its weathered appearance suggested.

With the historic colors identified, the restoration team could begin recreating the sign’s original appearance.

The metal surface was cleaned and prepared, and traditional sign-painting techniques were used to restore the lettering and details. The goal wasn’t to redesign Golden Star or make it look new. It was to bring back the colors and character that had made the sign a Chinatown landmark for generations.

After months of investigation and careful restoration work, Golden Star was starting to look like Golden Star again.

Next, the restored neon would return to Clay Street and the pieces would begin coming back together.