The old Rainier brewery had a large big red R on top of it. It was taken down in 2000, and replaced with a big green T (for Tully’s Coffee). The original big red R is in the Museum of History and Industry.
Now a replica big red R sign is being created, and it will replace the big green T. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’m not a Seattle – or Washington – native. I think I may have had Rainier beer a few times in my 20s. On one hand, I appreciate the historical significance of the old Rainier brewery; and as an historical building, it should have its R. On the other hand, the R will be a replica; not the real one. Certainly almost every restoration project uses replica parts. Often, NOS parts are sourced. But in general, if the original part exists and is serviceable, the original part is used.
In this case, it seems people want to eat their cake and have it too. They have the original sign in a museum, but they also want an ‘original’ sign on the building. Having a replica sign on the building seems like a sports statistic; there needs to be a notation. ‘This is the Old Rainier Brewery* [*Replica sign].’ As I said, I understand the sentiment that lead to the decision to restore an R sign to the building. I understand the need to preserve the original sign. But every time I see the building it will be like seeing a Shelby Cobra replica on the road. ‘Say, nice car! Looks real! But it’s a replica.’
Yea!
The “T” was an offense to all that is holy. The Seattle skyline coming up the 5 demands a red “R.” I don’t care if it’s a replica. Keep the original as a historic piece of art and get a new sign up!
The R is so cleverly made. It reads correctly from both sides. I’m ok with a replica, as long as it’s a faithful rendering.
It has been missed. The Tully’s T always makes me sad. I also miss the Sunny Jim sign. Unfortunally, it burned down several years ago. 
At least, Bardahl still reigns over Ballard.
Haven’t heard of the beer but I have heard of the minor league baseball team, which uses a similar R.
The team was onwed by the beer company for a while.
Speaking of offenses to all that are holy, the world outside LA - which includes Seattle - does not call its highways “the” anything.
Anyone from Bakersfield north would say “coming up 5” and be perfectly understood.
This has been a public service announcement.
Don’t start with me. 
Johnny is from, surprise surprise, LA, where the big slab running from Tiajuana to Bellingham is “the” 5.
Walk down Memory Lane.
There’s a world outside of L.A.? I thought I was just in an outlying suburb.
That’s okay. I can be irritated about SoCalisms from a distance now. I am too busy trying to adapt to tiny northeastern roads called “Route 24” and so forth… which, for anyone not familiar with the area, means an arbitrary collection of ancient town streets strung together under one name for convenience. You quickly learn to ignore street names, which change every 500 feet (and I mean EVERY 500 feet, including through “towns” that haven’t existed since U.S. Grant slept in them) and pay attention only to the route numbers. I can’t imagine what driving was like for (1) non-natives (2) pre-GPS.
OTOH, no one says “you take thuh 24 up to Willingferd, then thuh 92 east past where Joe’s barn used to be…” and I am grateful for it.
Irrelevant aside: a nearby town showed up in a late episode of Fringe and cracked us all up. We talked about going on a search for the rotating 3D letters hanging in the forest…
RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrr
BBBBBBBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrr
[bullfrog][sub]Rainier[/sub] Beer[/bullfrog]
