This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A State Street mainstay, the huge neon bowling pin at what once was Ritz Classic Bowl, came down Wednesday. But it will be back.

"Structurally, the sign was so rusted they were worried about it falling over," said Michael Florence, South Salt Lake's community and economic development director. "So they're taking it down and putting up a new one up. It will look almost exactly like it does now."

Yesco, the Salt Lake City sign company that built the original sign in 1958, dispatched "an armada of boom trucks to begin the disassembly Wednesday morning," said executive Jeff Young, predicting it will take two more days to dismantle the 90-foot-tall sign.

"There's a grand project in the works," he said of its replacement, which South Salt Lake residents made clear they want to see in its familiar spot at 2265 S. State.

"I had more people express concern about what happens to that sign than about the 285 residential units that will be going in" where the bowling alley used to be, Florence said, noting that city officials were adamant about maintaining the sign's presence in the area envisioned as their new downtown.

"It's been in South Salt Lake for so long it's iconic, a part of our history," he said. "From what we've heard, there are only two of its size in the United States. Somebody even put up a website about it."

Mike Gorrell