Orpheum Theatre on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. January 2024.

The Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis in January 2024.

The iconic illuminated gate marking Kabukichō Ichiban-gai, photographed in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Installed in the late 1960s and redesigned several times since, the red archway has become one of the most recognizable entrances to Tokyo’s largest entertainment district.

Kabukichō developed after World War II as a planned theater district—its name comes from a never-built kabuki theater—before evolving into a dense zone of restaurants, bars, cinemas, and nightlife venues. The gate’s bright bulbs and bold lettering serve as a symbolic threshold into the neighborhood’s tightly packed streets, which remain active late into the night.

A bright magenta-and-red “PARK” marquee glows above 5th Street in downtown Minneapolis, its arrow pointing toward one of the city’s long-running parking ramps. The large mirrored surface on the right captures a full duplicate of the sign, emphasizing the heavy neon presence that once defined the downtown entertainment and retail district. Signs like this were installed in the mid-20th century as automobile traffic surged and developers converted older commercial buildings into multi-level garages to serve Nicollet Mall, the Gateway renewal area, and the growing high-rise core.

At street level, the rows of construction barrels and lane closures reflect Minneapolis’s ongoing cycle of roadway and transit upgrades — a pattern familiar in this part of the city as utility work, sidewalk rebuilds, and streetcar-era infrastructure get modern replacements. Even with the constant change, the surviving neon parking signs remain some of the most recognizable visual anchors of the nighttime downtown streetscape.

Brit's Pub on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis.

Dulono's Pizza in downtown Minneapolis

Treat Yo Self neon sign on Lake Street

The former Pillsbury flour mill near downtown Minneapolis. It's since been renovated into condos.

Midtown Exchange, Minneapolis

Calhoun Square at Hennepin/Lake in Uptown Minneapolis.