Anyone who's ever visted Baltimore's Inner Harbor knows the sight: the Domino Sugar sign is iconic. But the beautiful neon had been weatherbeaten and battered by the seasons since 1951, and it was time to retire the old gal, so weeks ago, residents watched as the easily-recognizable letters were carefully removed from the city skyline.
Photo: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Not to worry, though, before long, the skyline will once again be alight with reassurance that sweetness is back in Baltimore. After all, what goes down must surely go back up. The folks at Domino Sugars reassure us that the iconic sign will be replaced, but with eco-friendly LED lights this time, rather than the steadfast neon. According to officials at Domino, they are carefully "making structural repairs and installing new letters and a border that include state-of-the-art LED [light emitting diode] lighting that will mimic the look of neon" in order to ensure that the skyline is beaurified for years to come. The sign will replicate the original, recognizable Domino Sugars sign, and will offer sustainable light for another 70 years over Baltimore's inner harbor.
Paul Gable, Founder of Gable Visual Solutions is based in Curtis Bay, is in charge of the new construction of the sign that has been part of the cityscape for more than 70 years. Gable is based in Curtis Bay, a neighborhood in Baltimore's industrial waterfront area. His company has been trusted with other important Baltimore signs, like M&T Bank Stadium and the Baltimore Museum of Industry. On national scale, Gable's work can be seen at sites like Macy's, so he is no newcomer to the LED signmaking business.
Domino Sugar has been refining sugar in the same location in Baltimore, along the Locust Point waterfront since 1922. Today they employ more than 500 people. Up to 40 ships per year arrive, delivering 850,000 tons of raw sugar. The U.S. is the 5th largest sugar producer in the world. Domino produces sugars for a wide array of products for the cooking, foodservice, and even pharmaceuticals industries. Domino, a part of the ASR companies, is involved in Baltimore local Holiday Food Collection Day and has been a welcome partner in local community efforts.
It’s the last of Baltimore’s six sugar refineries, and its massive sign has been a constant on the cityscape. The existing Domino Sugar sign was made using neon, a nearly 100-year old technology. While neon provides a beautiful light, it was past time to employ a newer technology, one that will last well into the future. The original sign contained 650 individual neon tubes, so maintenance was difficult and time-consuming. Although rehabilitating the sign is a big job, Peter O'Malley, of American Sugar Refining Group, the parent company of Domino, was clear that it was never an option to let the sign go dark. It is a tremendous task to fabricate a sign of this magnitude. The letters alone range from roughly 12 to about 35 feet tall, and the sign is 120 feet wide by 70 feet high.
The original sign was retired on March 1, 2021, and the new, LED-sign is planned for lighting on July 4, 2021. THe only time in its history that the sign went dark was a short period during the oil crisis of the 1970s. Otherwise the iconic Domino Sugars sign has remained lit every day, from dusk til dawn, keeping watch over Baltimore's harbor, every day for all of her 70 years. It is the hope of Baltimore residents, Domino Sugars, and the ASR corporation, that the new, more energy-friendly and modern sign, will be welcomed by Marylanders and that it will remain lit for many years to come.