“Neon King” Puts the Glow Back into the Original Kutsher’s Sign

For more than a half century, the golden yellow Kutsher's sign burned brightly atop the iconic resort in Monticello. The fragile neon tubing had survived brutal winters, a hotel fire that somehow left the sign unscathed, and a move to Long Island after Scott Eckers and Michelle Simon Conrad purchased it at auction when the hotel closed in 2013.

The sign still glowed last year when Scott and Michelle generously donated it to the museum. But when it was installed above the main gallery in July and turned on, the neon flickered and died. Efforts to find a repair person who would travel to the museum were fruitless.

We were despondent.

Then one day, recently returned Ellenville native Billy Rosenblatt strolled through the museum doors, noticed the darkened sign and offered to help. In a previous life, Billy had been "the Neon King of Long Island," before a career shift into commercial real estate. But he hadn't handled neon in 20 years.

Hard at work: Billy still has the Midas touch after all these years!

"I was really nervous I had lost my touch," Billy said. "I didn't want to disappoint."

In the weeks that followed, he spent hours on a ladder hovering over the boxy metal behemoth as he tinkered with its ancient transformers and wiring.

Then one afternoon in early October, the museum erupted in cheers as the golden yellow script flared back to life. The Neon King of Long Island had not lost his touch.

Hard at work: Billy still has the Midas touch after all these years!