Since I was watching TV last night (the new season started this week), I decided I didn’t want to go out really late to take pics for today’s post after two hours of Dancing With the Stars and another hour of NCIS Los Angeles. The going out at night part is not bad, but I did not factor in all the season premieres in September of the TV shows I watch would cut into my nighttime neon quests. This picture was actually taken during afternoon hours, so it required a lot of darkening to match the format of the other days’ neons.
A little about this particular neon. Orange County has a very large Vietnamese community, and there are a lot of small mom-and-pop restaurants, as well as larger ones. This is one of the former. For those unfamiliar, Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is a traditional Vietnamese soup made with broth and rice noodles, bean sprouts, lime, lots of cilantro, and some meat strips and/or vegetables added in. It’s a hearty one dish meal. I’ve noticed that many of the pho restaurants have numbers with their name, as in this Pho 89, so I used this opportunity to Google and find out why there are numbers in so many of these restaurant names. Sure enough, there was an answer to this very question. Often they're lucky numbers. In some Asian cultures, eight is associated with wealth or prosperity. Sometimes it marks a date in Vietnamese history, or in the owners' personal life. I couldn’t find anything specific to 89, but it could be the year the owners emigrated to the US, for example.
No, I didn’t order a bowl of pho, but they did sell boba drinks, which I love, so I got a mango slushy with boba balls in it. And for those of you who don’t know about boba drinks either, here is more info on them: http://www.suite101.com/content/boba-tea-a209379
I probably should have taken a picture of my boba drink, too, but I was too busy drinking it and chewing on the boba balls to even think about taking a picture, once I got the neon sign.
I'm guessing you are in the process of watching some new shows tonight, but I did see your pre-processing of this image and it is incredible that you were able to make this look so similar to your other shots taken at night. It is a testament to your diligence and your talent. I'm very impressed. I'm sure people have no idea how much work goes into making these neon signs look good when taken at night, but to see what you did with a shot taken in the afternoon, is amazing.
ReplyDeleteBoba drinks sound incredibly sweet! I didn't realise that it was soup shown on the sign until I'd read what you had typed -I thought it was a tea cup without the handle. Today's sign has more of an uptodate feel about it than yesterdays.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the bit of culture along with your shot. I'm enjoying your narratives as much as the pictures.
ReplyDeleteI had always wondered about the numbers as well. I just assumed it was the number of the restaurants in the chain. 89 would be a lot of the same restaurant! We have the Boba drink up here in WA but its called Bubble Tea. I LOVE the little balls of tapioca. I would have never known you took this in the afternoon. You did a great job making it match the rest.
ReplyDeleteAnother beautiful shot and thanks for the Vietnamese info, I never really got to sample much of their food during my stay in SoCAL.
ReplyDeleteHaving the font on top and slightly different colours makes having them next to each other in the poster no problem to me.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was the sign of some fraternaty. The shape of the cup reminded me of french coffeecups.
We mainly have booths with vietnamese springrolls, I have never heard of nor tasted the drink.
I must be hanging in the wrong places...I have not seen boba for years. ummmm
ReplyDeleteMadamMtnLion