Nights on K Street will be lit up once again by the colossal Crest Theatre marquee. A four-month restoration of the landmark neon sign wrapped up Friday when the last neon tubes were installed. Theater operators have invited the public to a relighting ceremony at 7:15 p.m. Monday -- just two weeks shy of the Crest's 60th anniversary celebration. "When I saw the first coats of paint, my first reaction was, 'That's really bright,' " said Sid Garcia Heberger, one of four people who operate the Crest. "But once I saw it in the larger context, I realized how well it works together and how right it looks." In May, Heberger and her partners hired YESCO sign company to perform a $213,000 restor

Standing inside YESCO sign company's Natomas warehouse, Jinbo Xia heated a four-foot long glass tube in an open flame called a ribbon fire. He kept the empty tube from imploding by blowing air through a thin hose running from his mouth to one end of the tube. Xia gently rushed the tube to a work table and began bending the material before the glass cooled. Working with both hands and mouth, he used a disappearing craft to form the "C" in the Crest Theatre's landmark neon sign. He later added electrodes and "bombarded" or filled the letter with red neon gas that would turn the powder-coated glass tube pink. The 39-year-old learned the art of making neon light units from his father, who ow