BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – A couple of vintage neon signs is cute, even kind of quaint. Four neon signs? That’s impressive. But a whole courtyard full? That’s an attraction. The Mission Bank Neon Plaza has 40 signs now, including three in the adjacent transportation exhibit and two in the attached Trolley Bar, with another four on deck: La Tapatia, Cay Health Food, Medeiros Auto Electric and that familiar monstrosity, Bail Bond Leon. It, like most donations to the Neon Plaza, needs some TLC – just not too much TLC. “I got this sign for free from CPA Chris Jacobs,” said Kern County Museum Executive Director Mike McCoy, showing off the red, chipped-paint remnants of the Bail Bond Leon neon sign, which hung for years just south of the Kern County Courthouse. It now sits, along with other old neon signs and assorted antique treasures, in a museum warehouse. “But just getting the sign is the first part,” McCoy said. “What has to happen, it’s a major restoration project. We usually repaint. People say, ‘Why do you paint?’ Well, when all the paint is coming off and you’re going to put it back out in the weather, we (have to) stabilize the paint. “We like them to be old and weathered looking. We also redo all of the electrical innards, the transformer, and then we have to bend and put new neon on. “Hopefully, (for) this sign, our plan is to put it up by next spring … in the Neon Plaza. We love the fact that it’s such an old iconic sign.” McCoy isn’t sure what to do with some donations, like one from the Downtowner Inn, near the Chester Avenue overpass. “The city gave us this and I said yes before I saw it,” McCoy said. “This thing probably weighs about 10,000 pounds. And I don't know what I’m gonna do with it. You know anybody that needs a boat anchor for a big boat, let me know.” Sugardaddy’s Women’s Boutique announces closure Another donation that may take some time to deal with: The sign from Joe Gottlieb’s Seat Cover City. McCoy said it’ll take $15,000 to bring it back to life. But he’s pretty excited about another treasure, from the old Buck Owens Studios on North Chester in Oildale, which in a previous life was the old River Theater. McCoy is in possession of the backlit neon letters that ran along the front facade – Buck Owens Enterprises, with the name Buck Owens in red script. “We would really like to expand (the) Bakersfield Sound (exhibit) and add another wing,” he said. “If we do that – let’s just say by accident we inherit a bunch of Buck Owens stuff – we could have a Buck Owens Room. This neon sign would go up in that room.” It would be the prize of the museum’s country music collection. “These are really important signs,” McCoy said. “We’re really really blessed that Jim Shaw and the Owens family donated that to the museum, but we’ll have to find out a way to get them up on a building next.” The Neon Plaza, bookended in the northwest corner of the Kern County Museum property, roughly between an old vintage Union 76 gas station and Spartacus Miller’s Padre Hotel rooftop missile, is available for rental – for private holiday rentals, or anytime. Maybe there’s something wrong with Mike McCoy. The Kern County Museum executive director doesn’t seem to ever want to stop building on the Neon Plaza. But there’s no sense trying to stop him now.