The Waterfall Light; or how I created artwork from an Old Style tavern lantern

I do not drink alcohol. That being said, I do enjoy the fantastic and creative advertising signs and lights and clocks that used to decorate bars and taverns. You know – the ones where there’s a glistening backlit waterfall juxtaposed with a beer logo. Or the ones with a color-changing clock made from the outline of a beer logo. In this case, the popular Chicago-based brand Old Style beer.

You know that a few bottles of this, along with some Polish sausages and some deep-dish pizza, and suddenly you’re sitting around a bar extolling the virtues of Da Bears.

So I recently purchased this vintage beer light that once advertised Old Style.

Ain’t this a beaut?

And by “beaut,” I mean – this thing looks less like a bar light, and more like it survived a bar fight.

Note the date of the auction. July of LAST YEAR.

Yes, it takes me a while to work on projects.

First off – I had to confirm that the electronic mechanisms were working and functional. Last thing I need is for something in this unit to catch fire and burn down my home.

I dropped the unit off at Wolberg Electric in Albany’s warehouse district, and a week later they returned an upgraded, fully restored interior to me. The unit’s wires were pitted and exposed; the lamp was on its last lumens, and the interior was coated in gunk and dust and other assorted detritus.

Well, now it at least lights up.

But that frame piece … ugh. It looks terrible. And no matter how much glue and adhesives I use to repair those broken frames … it will still look like broken frames. That doesn’t work for me, brother.

Eventually I settled on Gorilla Tape to bind everything together and make it presentable.

Now as for the image inside … yeah, that Old Style waterfall sign was three breezes away from falling to pieces.

I measured the area where the sign would sit. 11 by 15.

That gives me an idea.

Of course, when I say “idea,” it means I have to WAIT ALMOST A YEAR.

Okay. It’s now July 4, 2026, and here I am at the overlook at East Greenbush. I have a clear view of the Empire State Plaza, and there’s nothing in the general vicinity to harsh my vibe.

Snagged several photos for my troubles. And after some careful editing and judicious level adjustments …

You know what? THIS would look incredible as an insert in that lamp.

And I have an idea.

I purchased some laser transparency film online. You can either acquire 8.5 x 11 sheets, or 11 x 17 sheets. After printing out a few test shots, I printed the fireworks image on the transparency paper.

A little judicious trimming to get 11×17 down to 11×15 …

Now for the assembly. I mean, this has to be easy to assemble, right? It’s not like I’m working with some complicated tavern light equipment like Hamm’s or Blatz or Ballantine or Rheingold or Schaefer, right?

Okay … hang it on the wall …

Plug it in …

I’m getting flashing 12:00 on the lamp. We have success.

The fluorescent lamp illuminates. We have success.

Gotta get some photos of this.

Holy Sesquicentennial, Batman! This totally slaps!!

Okay. Turn out the lights, and let’s see what this looks like in the dark.

Oh yeah … Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah … This makes Chuck very happy.

I mean, yeah, it took a year to build it … but that was mostly due to waiting for the fireworks show. It’s not like I could have called the New York State Office of General Services and asked for a custom-crafted fireworks display just so I could capture the photo in August. I don’t have that kind of pull.

But the nice thing is … I have at least one entry this year for Historic Albany Foundation’s BUILT charitable auction.

I just need one more.

And I just might want to start it as soon as I possibly can. 😀