During renovations of Clifton’s Cafeteria in Los Angeles, a neon lamp that was switched on during the Great Depression was found behind a partition. It’s been on for 77 years. The owner estimates it’s generated more than $17,000 in electric bills.
Fans know Clifton’s as the place LASFS met and freeloaded for a few years in the late 1930s. So not only was the light on all the time that LASFS met at Clifton’s, it’s been on for nearly the entire history of the club’s existence — 78 years this October.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]
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Reminds me of the story of the world’s oldest incandescent lightbulb. It has a very similar story except I think it was in a disused closet of a fire department — when it was rediscovered it had been burning for something like 90 years… or maybe over a century. In any case, I gather it was left on, so gawd knows how long its been burning by now.
The Livermore Fire Department bulb which Taral refers to has been going for 110 years according to a Cracked.com article published earlier this year. Given it’s turning them off and on which is the main cause of wear and tear on bulbs I’m not surprised they last a little longer if boarded up and forgotten about.