Pepsi Sign

Long Island City, New York, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

The Pepsi-Cola sign, a neon sign from a Long Island City bottling plant, was designated a New York City landmark on 12 April 2016. Per the Landmarks Preservation Commission it was built in 1940 and moved to Gantry Plaza State Park in 2009; as of October 2026 the NYS Parks page for the park includes a photograph captioned "Pepsi Cola Sign".

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Pepsi Sign

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40.74747° N, 73.95770° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

The Pepsi-Cola sign is advertising that became a landmark, a neon bottle and logo that for decades announced a bottling plant to Manhattan across the East River.

According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which designated it on 12 April 2016, the sign was erected in August 1940 on the roof of the Pepsi-Cola bottling plant in Long Island City, and contemporary accounts attribute it to the General Outdoor Advertising Company. The commission said it was then described as the longest electric sign in New York. The commission described aluminium letters outlined in red neon tubing and a 50-foot aluminium Pepsi bottle, probably replaced in the 1970s. The commission gives a span of about 150 feet; QNS reported in 2016 that it stands 60 feet tall and 120 feet long and dated it to 1936, a year other press coverage also uses.

By 1993 the sign had deteriorated significantly, which the commission said led to its rebuilding, and QNS added that a winter storm made it worse; Artkraft Strauss oversaw the work. Pepsi sold the plant to the Queens West Development Corporation in 2003. The sign came off the roof in 2004 for the demolition, spent a time about 300 feet south, and in 2009 was moved to within feet of its original spot, inside Gantry Plaza State Park, as the commission recorded in 2016. According to QNS, the developer that bought the site agreed to keep the sign on the property and shaped its last tower, with a set-back facade, around it. The commission says Pepsi remains responsible for its maintenance.

In August 2019, ABC7 reported that the sign was sharing its space with an illuminated JetBlue logo in a promotion lasting a few months, which left some residents unhappy.

As of October 2026, the NYS Parks page lists Gantry Plaza State Park as open daily, dawn to dusk, and includes a photograph captioned "Pepsi Cola Sign".

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A neon Pepsi-Cola sign beside Gantry Plaza State Park on the Long Island City waterfront. The Landmarks Preservation Commission described red neon tubing outlining the letters and a 50-foot bottle in 2016. As of October 2026, NYS Parks lists the adjoining park as open daily, dawn to dusk.

ACCESS

The Landmarks Preservation Commission placed the sign inside Gantry Plaza State Park (park address 4-44 47th Road), Long Island City, Queens, in 2016. As of October 2026, NYS Parks lists the park as open daily, dawn to dusk.

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