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

A beauty is about to take center stage on K Street Mall. She's not quite ready for close-ups yet. But passersby are starting to get glimpses of the historic Crest Theatre's new face. Renovation of the theater's landmark art deco sign is nearly finished. YESCO sign company finished reinstalling the "CREST" letters above the reader board Wednesday. A total of 42 new and repaired neon light units are almost done, said Sean Ward, the company's service sales representative on the project. The blade -- consisting of sections known as the tower, the leaves and the candy cane -- and the marquee, with its reader board, have been repainted. This restoration included painting the roughly 90-foot

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