viral messages from the neon marquee at Vancouver’s legendary Penthouse nightclub are collected in a new book

If your commute includes Seymour Street in downtown Vancouver, you may already be familiar with the neon marquee outside the legendary Penthouse Nightclub. These days, the viral messages its tile lettering spells out get more attention than the nearly 80-year-old establishment itself. Now, the best of them have been collected in a new book, A Sign of the Times: The Best of the Penthouse Marquee by Ben “The Sign Guy” Jackson and historian Aaron Chapman.

Jackson says he began composing the messages to make his friends laugh. His first viral moment came in 2015, not long after he started working at the club.

“I don’t know if people will remember it now, but it would have been the Pokémon Go craze that was going on. It was released in America the week before, so we knew it was coming [to Canada], and I had the idea for changing the sign to ‘Rare Pokémon Inside’ and that was going to be the joke,” he said.

“It was all very new, but it was that very first one that essentially went viral and opened the door to allow me to keep having fun with it.”
Jackson remembers one day showing up to work to find people out front trying to get inside just for the chance to hunt a Pokémon, much to the delight of the club’s bouncers.

“It was a couple, a mom and dad with a child, eight or nine years old. They said, ‘The kid’s obviously not going to come in. But can the dad come in, catch the Pokémon, and then come back out?’ I’m like, ‘It’s a joke. I don’t think there’s any Pokémon inside.’”

(Anvil Press)

Jackson says the space constraints of the sign are a big part of its magic.

“There’s 40 characters, including spaces, which means 20 per line, and that’s my rule of thumb, basically,” he said.

“If I have a joke in my head, I can tell you right off the bat if it’s going to fit or not, because, like any good joke, you can’t take away too much from it, or else it’s just going to lose its pizzazz.”

The marquee really took off in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic when the Penthouse, like every other entertainment venue in British Columbia, was closed by order of Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer. Indeed, few images summed up B.C.’s lockdown era better than signs like “Clothed Until Further Notice,” for example.

Penthouse owner Danny Filippone admits the popularity of the marquee took him by surprise at first, but then he saw it as a business opportunity.

“I was getting so many requests,” he said. “I couldn’t go anywhere in Vancouver, whether it was shopping or just going for a morning walk, without someone stopping me and saying, ‘Who does your sign? And what’s going to be on it next week?’ And I finally said to myself and to everyone else, ‘Guys, we’re going to do a book. It’s time.’”

The book is something of a full circle moment for Chapman, whose first book, 2012’s Liquor, Lust, and the Law, was about the Penthouse. He has since followed it up with several local history books, including Live at the Commodore, The Last Gang in Town, Vancouver After Dark, and Vancouver Vice.

“It’s great! You know, I must think some of my UBC History professors are wondering about how much time I’m spending at the Penthouse, writing books about the place,” he said.

“It’s odd to think about sometimes, but the Penthouse really captures a certain period of modern history within the city. The sign, it’s not just the Penthouse’s sign, I always say, it’s become Vancouver’s sign, and some of the messages that Ben has come up with have become the conscience of Vancouver at times.”

For Filippone, the positive buzz generated by the marquee is like nothing he could have ever imagined when he started working there 45 years ago, especially given the sordid history of the club.

The Penthouse was founded as an after-hours watering hole in 1947 before becoming a supper club in the 1950s. By the 1970s, it was a meeting place for prostitutes, becoming the frequent target of police raids. That dangerous era culminated with the 1983 murder of Filippone’s uncle Joe in his upstairs office, the victim of a bungled robbery. More than 800 people showed up to his funeral, a crowd described as “Supreme Court justices, businessmen, and dancers.”

“Half of my life has been spent battling the image of the Penthouse,” said Filippone. “But it’s the sign that has really changed the way that Vancouverites feel [about the place], and for me personally, there’s nothing greater than when I drive down Seymour or when I run into a friend and people comment on the sign, and it’s just so rewarding.”

It’s ironic that a decades-old strip club is better known these days for what goes on outside the building than inside, but here we are.

The road to respectability has been a long one. A fire in 2011 nearly destroyed the Penthouse and its decades of history. Today, it’s a history Filippone is more than happy to lean into. He and Chapman lead regular tours of the building, captivating sold out audiences with tales of its heyday hosting the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. and Louis Armstrong.

A book launch for A Sign of the Times is set for Friday, Dec. 12 at the Penthouse. That is also when Filippone will take the stage to accept his induction into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, joining his father Ross and his uncles Mickey, Jimmy, and Joe, who were all inducted in 2016.

“I think this will be one of the biggest parties we’ve had since we turned 60, which was almost 20 years ago,” said Filippone.

“So, we’ve got jazz, we’ve got Vegas girls, we’ve got ice sculptures. It’s going to be a night of celebration. We’ve invited everyone all through the media, sports, friends of mine,
friends of the club. So, it’s going to be a who’s who of Vancouver and we’re really looking forward to a great night.”

A Sign of the Times is a coffee table-style book that is a greatest hits of the marquee’s viral moments. Chapman points out it also presents an opportunity for a little audience participation.

“The best thing is now you, the reader out there, can be your own sign guy,” he said.

“In the back of the book there’s a sign that you can make and there’s a letter set, and you can take some of Ben’s tips and advice. And we’re encouraging readers who pick up the book to make their own signs and see what they come up with.”

When asked about his favourite sign, Chapman was tongue in cheek with his response.

“Oh gosh, there’s so many,” he said. “For me, it’s the one that’s up there right now on Seymour Street, which is ‘Read The Book Before It’s a Movie.’ So, check out A Sign of the Times before it becomes a major motion picture, yeah!”

A Sign of the Times: The Best of the Penthouse Marquee is published by Anvil Press.