Lawyer Makes Case For Interstate Neon

Another Reddy blog mention, this time over at Portland Architecture:

But it was another favorite lost to history that Duffy likes best, the “Reddy Kilowatt” mascot for Pacific Power’s downtown office where her father worked, “a little man with lightning bolts for arms and legs, a light bulb for a nose and wall outlets for years.” If that neon sign were still shining somewhere in Portland, I’d have to draw from the cheerful rhetoric of Rachel Ray: “How good does that look?”

Scipio Center, NY History: Welcome in the New Year

A quick Reddy mention from someone over in New York state:

“Living off the grid” was the norm, since the grid did not come to Scipio until about the early 1940’s. An early bill features a picture of Reddy Kilowatt and a cost of $2.50 for a month’s service for a house on the then Lake Road — now Wyckoff Road.
And electricity meant that the old hand pump wells could be replaced by a cistern or a dug well. To just turn on a faucet and draw the water you needed instead of pumping and bringing pails full to the house must have been a huge improvement and timesaver.

Off Goes the Power Current Started by Thomas Edison

From yesterday’s NYT CityBlog:

Today, Con Edison will end 125 years of direct current electricity service that began when Thomas Edison opened his Pearl Street power station on Sept. 4, 1882. Con Ed will now only provide alternating current, in a final, vestigial triumph by Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, Mr. Edison’s rivals who were the main proponents of alternating current in the AC/DC debates of the turn of the 20th century.

Written by Comments Off on Off Goes the Power Current Started by Thomas Edison Posted in Electricity

‘Reddy Kilowatt’ Energizes Sioux City Again

A classic Reddy sign has been relit:

It’s an electrifying day as a Sioux City icon, “Reddy Kilowatt”, has returned.

Friday Reddy was dedicated at the ISU Design West Studio for folks to enjoy.

The large neon sign welcomed travelers into Sioux City along I-29 from 1956 to 1996.

This new location is fitting because Reddy was made to educate students about electricity and now will be surrounded by students attending the design school.

Update: There’s an article at the Sioux City Journal, too: Reddy’s back in town (and it mentions us!).

A Kinder Gentler Reddy

From a blog called Denver Direct:

Now Reddy, while you were back in the storage shed hibernating, one of your distributors, Xcel Energy in Colorado, was trying to make things better by upgrading some of those transmission towers over there just west of the Platte. You remember? Ok, Well, part of that route goes through Ruby Hill Park, you know, that old Indian lookout?

Well, some of the folks who live there kinda wanted you to improve the situation while you were at it, and, you know, put the lines underground? Expensive you say? Hey come on Reddy, give us a break here.

Reddy tomfoolery

A portion of Patricia Burroughs’ memories of her “Grannymamma:”

She also was the ringleader of a group of young GI’s wives who stole Reddy-Kilowatt from the front of the electric company in Baton Rouge and hid him in her bedroom until the end of the war. (The MPs talked a lot about the braze[n]ness of that burglary at the USO and she just listened and nodded sympathetically.)

Dang!