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I would imagine we're pushing over well

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over, 1500 signs our electricity bill at

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the moment is roughly around about

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£1,000 each a month I'm just a holder

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and not a collector

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holding is an understatement bul signs

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Amusement signs metal signs enamel signs

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road signs signs signs signs neon neon

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neon when you're working with neon all

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you need is

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love hidden in London's East End lies

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God's Own junkyard and Aladdin's Cave of

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neon here they produce display and sell

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some of the most famous neon in the

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world it's Run by One family Brothers

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Marcus and Matthew and their mother

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Linda and you might recognize a few from

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your favorite movies Batman we worked on

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that was 13 years old B six times Tomb

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Raider three times Judge Dread the same

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the list goes on and on and on Mission

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Impossible you did didn't you yeah with

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Tom Cruz yeah you know the bit when they

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winched down I was actually above him

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during that 17 years old on set Blade

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Runner we got the dragon over there

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Expendables we just did that not long

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ago Superman 4 with Christopher Reeves

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and our youngest son Max he actually

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play made the baby super baby was he was

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it was super baby Eyes Wide Shut we

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worked with Stanley kick and uh we ended

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up doing the back lot we filled this New

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York streets with fairy lights neon

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lights it was fantastic then on Friday

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night one night we ended up having a

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curry with him cuz we worked late till

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about 12:00 at night doing a lighting

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test on his like rainbow tuxedo sign

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which was beautiful that was like the

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primary part of the start of the film

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they chose me to drive a yellow taxi big

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New York taxi and drop him off outside

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the rainbow tuxedo shop and you just get

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a little glimpse of me driving him down

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the film set and dropping him off you do

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feel proud because it neon is usually

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quite a big part of the the whole set so

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it kind of gives atmosphere it's nice to

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see that the work we're doing with our

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hands and all the Blood Sweat and Tears

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that we put into it goes into so so

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amazing the other thing I think which is

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nice is that it's

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immortalized yeah you see it's there

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forever yeah this establishment's

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legendary Legacy can be credited to one

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man the late Christopher bracie and his

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family continue his work to this day

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Chris was some inspirational to many of

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people wasn't just me the locals people

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in London I was amazed on his his

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vision he is like the Godfather of neon

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they say the neon man yeah within the

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industry they call him industry yeah he

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wanted to take neon to a higher purpose

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he was working with his father dick

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bracie who who started the business in

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1952 but he saw further than just the

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graphics on a sign he wanted to make

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them Arty when he was younger he went to

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see an exhibition by Dan flaven and also

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was inspired by Bruce nman who was a 60s

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neon artist that took him down a path

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that think that signs were not just for

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commercial use he could use neon as an

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art medium as well everything was about

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duel meanings it never just meant what

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you read or what you thought it was it

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was proper art you'd stand you could

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look at it for hours and you still might

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not actually work out what he's trying

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to say it was kind of Chris's dream that

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um one day we would be able to put it

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all out on display and show it to the

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public and he was quite specific about

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it that it was for free Chris's dream

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became a reality but the place needed a

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name as iconic as his Neon Chris was

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sitting at the desk one evening he

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shouts out Euphoria you know um I've um

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I've got a name and he said it was God's

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Own junkyard he was looking at an

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article by an American architect called

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Peter Blake and he was actually saying

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that uh all the Big Sky signs Motel

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signs gas station signs mainly through

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Route 66 were making God's own country

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into God's Own

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junkyard and Chris just said great

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that's it fantastic that's us Chris's

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work can still be seen around the

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Streets of London but over the years the

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demand for neon has fallen as shop

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fronts and street corners off for new

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attack like

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LED I think that neon signs uh

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to some extent will become rare there's

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only one neon powder company left in the

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world making the powders for the glass

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so if they don't make the powder you

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can't get these different colors what

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everyone's saying is that neon signs are

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going to be worth more money than

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gold in about 10 years we could be

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sitting on a gold mine making these

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one-off signs isn't a walk in the park

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each one takes hours of love and craft

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it's a fragile product that you've got

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to be careful with it's not something

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that you can throw around whoever you've

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got working with you on it has to be

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very careful with it has to learn how to

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handle neon the colors and the matching

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of colors and the the the way colors can

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mean something in what you're portraying

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it's really something that you you think

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about a lot don't you as as things are

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being put together I always say that

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neon is our favorite color you gradually

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work your way up from from little

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drawings and sketches up into s full

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scale drawings once you've drawn that up

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and you're happy with it you um take it

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into the glass up we Bend these pure

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sodium straight canes of glass which are

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made from Sand so we basically bend over

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th000 Dee burners these bits of glass we

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actually Inlet the gases in the Arun or

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the Neon gas which we're breathing in

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now it's a pure gas and then we charge

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it with voltage and then obviously we're

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there you've got that set

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when you charge that sign up you go wow

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it's alive cuz sometimes it can fail it

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can have a crack in it you know you can

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overheat the glass it sort of dies on

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you and you got to start a game but it's

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yeah you get a Bast you do get a charge

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yourself it's no surprise that God's Own

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junkyard has a long list of famous fans

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from around the world Jamie I love Lady

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Gaga Jude La there's a lot of alist

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stars that come in and we create in

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designed for them maxel Rose eraser Finn

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Lizzy they've all had pieces made up and

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specially made for themselves as well as

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well as hiring the place for their promo

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or video shoots too we also did the

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party for and John we filled the garden

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didn't we with neon sign as they walked

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in yeah it looked amazing and then hid

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behind the bushes yeah yeah yeah we had

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hide behind the bushes didn't we yeah

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yeah we weren't high profile yeah

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no when I look at what some of these

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sign really look like and what the

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impact and the presence of them being

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there on buildings it's fantastic God's

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Own junkyard is to some extent a labor

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of love yeah the generic scale of it

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just sort of like blows people away it's

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just nice to see parts of still parts of

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London that you know traditionally got

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on signs up and working and they look

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[Music]

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fantastic

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