Architect and designer Kirsten Hively started this project late last year to photograph New York City’s many neon signs. She says, “I have been told that New York’s neon is unexceptional in comparison to Chicago’s or Portland’s. I wanted to prove otherwise. I also wanted to demonstrate (mostly to myself) that the quirky, independent New York is still here — it’s not all chain stores, standard-issue vinyl awnings and luxury condos.”

The images are really quite lovely, and she’s right, they do evoke a quirkiness and idiosyncrasy that many people complain has been drained from New York.

Hively blogs about the project over at this Tumblr blog, and she posts her pictures over at this Flickr set. Even better, she’s just released an iPhone app that shows you what neon signs are near your current location (provided of course that your current location is somewhere in New York City) and even lets you add your own photographs of neon signage to the database. Download the app here.

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