Bright Lights, Big Neon in L.A.

"This historic neon was very significant to the city," he observes. "It was an early public expression of modernism and one of the first major urban improvements to L.A."

Rooftop signs can cost $25,000 and up to restore, says Kim Koga, director of the Museum of Neon Art. The three-sided Bendix sign at 12th and Maple streets, with its 25-foot-tall letter "B," cost $50,000 to resurrect. But if the glass tubes and wiring are intact, even an elaborate sign -- such as one of a mason laying bricks that's on display in the museum -- can cost as little as $300 to renovate.

This year, aiming for those who want more of a hipster cultural experience, the museum began a second tour. The Poet's Beat Neon Cruise includes hip-hop poet Mike Sonksen (who goes by the name Mike the Poet) and percussionist Matt Reid Cohn, who's also a photographer and goes by the name Neon Hunter. As Mike the Poet, a third-generation Angeleno, calls out his energetic, evocative wordscapes about the city, Cohn accompanies him on a West African djembe drum, occasionally blowing on a kazoo or rattling shakers.

These musical efforts alternate with taped songs chosen for the word "neon" in their lyrics, sung by L.A.-based artists such as the late Elliott Smith, Ry Cooder and the Doors, as well as Bjork ("All Neon Like") and the Kinks ("Underneath the Neon Sign").

You must be 21 or older to partake in the beat cruise, since it stops at three noteworthy watering holes: the looks-old-but-is-new Broadway Bar, next to the restored downtown Orpheum Theatre with its eye-popping marquee; the Frolic Room, adjacent to the art deco Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard; and Frank N Hanks, an unassuming dive bar down the street from the saved-from-the-wrecking ball Wiltern Theatre in Koreatown. Only three dates for the fledgling Beat tour have been scheduled, with the next one on Aug. 19, but more may be added if the idea takes off.

If Beat isn't your bag, there's always the original cruise. And those miles of neon.

"Looking at neon is a way to celebrate the city in so many ways," Eric Lynxwiler, another cruise guide, tells me later. "Its culture, its architecture, its history, even its dirt -- what neighborhood was there before it became something else -- can be described when you are looking at neon."

Allison Engel is a writer living in Los Angeles.

Both neon tours start at the Museum of Neon Art (501 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite 101, 213-489-9918,http://www.neonmona.org). The original Neon Cruises, which run through Oct. 21, start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 for museum members, $45 for nonmembers. Tours usually sell out, so reservations are required. The next Poet's Beat Neon Cruise is 8 p.m. on Aug. 19. Prices are $20 for museum members , $25 for nonmembers. The museum's current exhibit is "Fire in the Night: The Neon Photographs of J. Howard Mott." Museum admission is $5; tour fees include museum entry. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.