But even along Bourbon Street, where the electricity is back, only a handful of the famously gaudy signs were ablaze, most of them outside otherwise dark and empty storefronts.

Even city planners opposed to commercial signs found something fitting in the gaudy electric signs that turned night into day and attracted gawking tourists.

The set is a parking lot, the backdrop a strip mall, the lighting provided by halogen lamps and big, gaudy commercial signs that glow all night.

Anyone who misses the gaudy sign outside gets the message a few steps inside.

"Watches Repaired," a gaudy sign on the bus announced.

The tradition of gaudy signs continues to this day.

ANYONE who misses the gaudy sign for Ping's Seafood on Mott Street gets the message a few steps inside the restaurant.

Though fairly drab on the outside, looking like a six-story office building, except for its marquees and gaudy electric sign over the main entrance, the Princess was elegant inside.

He has, in fact, landed quite near his old home and the old hairdressing shop his brother has kept going under a gaudy new sign.

Across from the last, he saw a clean-looking saloon whose gaudy sign announced it as the Sam Houston Rest.