Rapido Diner
The Rapido du Plateau Diner, situated for decades at the corner of Saint-Denis / Mont-Royal, was a mainstay for late-night poutine, clubs and burgers. The street view, below, is from August 2019, prior to demolition. As reported in le Devoir and le Journal de Montreal, the so-called “face and soul” of Rapido was Carmen Laciancio. Working late-night shifts for most of Rapido’s existence, Carmen told the press she was undeterred when the restaurant closed in 2014. In her 24 years of service, she was largely credited with making the restaurant feel like a home to night owls and early birds alike. Due to conflicts between Rapido’s management and the building’s landlords, the restaurant shut its doors in 2014.
The Rapido signs bear comparison with others in the MSP collection, especially Le Club Sandwich and the Monkland Taverne. All of them comprise stylized, upper- and lower-case scripts rendered in open-channel metal. It’s likely that the sign was designed using a font called Magneto Bold* by CabargaType. Bulky ‘raceways’ hold the fragile lettering and its glass tubes in place to ensure it remains lined up correctly before, during, and long after installation. The interior of the raceway provides a relatively sheltered home for all the wiring and transformers necessary for illuminating the neon tubing.
A variation worth noting is that the open-channel neon in the 1940s/1950s Tavern sign was open to the elements; the much more recent (mid-1990s) Club Sandwich sign is covered with opaque white Plexi (possibly when it was modified for LED lighting); and, Rapido has clear Plexi covering. This retains the ‘open neon’ look while protecting against dirt, extreme weather, nesting birds, and projectiles.
A Ville de Montréal sign inspection card from 1987 (above) shows Rapido-branded awnings, installed the year before. This suggests that the neon signs we recovered are relatively new; perhaps a 1990s or early 2000s ‘retro diner’ gesture. Investigations continue.
*Note that the final character of the smaller sign is missing the extended terminal or ‘ear’ to be found in the font from which it’s derived.