By LESTER CHANG
The Paul and Harvey Bar on Murphy Avenue--reputed to be the oldest bar in the Santa Clara Valley--will undergo renovation work thanks to a recent approval by the city's Heritage Preservation Commission.
The commission's approval on March 13 allows for improvements to a business that started in the late 1930s.
The most significant change involves the addition of a canopy and an arch to the building, said Tony Bilic, who has owned the business for 12 years.
Bilic plans to reposition a neon wall sign in the front of the building so that it protrudes from a wall in a perpendicular manner.
The sign currently sits flush against a wall.
At the commission meeting at City Hall, Bilic said he needed the sign to be repositioned to help promote his business. He said people who walk or drive down Murphy Avenue will see it better.
The commission also decided to leave the sign the same size, rejecting a recommendation from a city plan for a larger sign to match the building's facade.
Commissioner Barkley Clark said the commission doesn't have to follow the suggestions in the Murphy Avenue Design Guidelines. He said the sign is a classical type that is found on some old-time bars in San Francisco.
"I think it would be excellent on the street," Clark said.
Commissioners Jack Perry and Lillian Pang recommended that Bilic bolt down the sign to make it seismically safe.
The commission also approved Bilic's request to install neon tubes around an arch sign area and a canopy in front of the building.
Commissioners said the lighting system was appropriate because similar lighting systems have been used on the outside of bars in California in the past.
But the city's Community Development Department said the building has always been a simple structure with a Spanish quality, due to its stucco finish and clay tile roof, and that simple but elegant lights would work.
Any light and sign improvements will be reviewed by either the city or the commission before they are installed, said Gerri Langtry, a city planner who attended the meeting.
The city also wanted bigger windows in the front of the buildings to be consistent with large windows used by merchants on the block in the past.
But the commission felt the smaller windows that are in place now are appropriate. The commission has jurisdiction over the renovation work because the building is in an area the city has designated as having historical importance.
Murphy Avenue was once the dominant business hub of the city. Some of the buildings were built in the early 1920s.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 19, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.