"If a neon worker came into this shop from the 1930s, they would recognize almost everything that I do," said Kirkman. "Very little has changed, it's a 140-year-old trade." While many signs around ...

The owner, a fan of all things antique, last weekend put up a 1940s-era sign salvaged from a restaurant in New York City.

In the film, a grieving widow takes up her late husband’s trade of making neon signs. Public safety concerns grew in the 2000s after incidents of ageing signboards falling on pedestrians.