went to Fresno to say good by to a fellow sign trade man, Jeff Tanielian, striper,brush artis, neon fabber, etc. went down on his bike last thurs (7/18/13) he just finised a '32 roadster, just thought i would pass this on to fellow H.A.M.B.ers, some of the floral arangments and for his last ride on a crane truck. RIP Jeff
I heard about the crash, had no idea it was a fellow hamber. So sorry for your loss ,our prayers are heading all his friends/family. The Wilsons
I belive he was out at King City/101 area, i did his neon work and have known him for 25+ yrs. nice guy
here's a article on Jeff in todays Fresno Bee. Jeff Tanielian was a workaholic free-spirit who made a living by creating neon signs. He loved family, friends and church, and hated to see Fresno destroy its history.When the old Outpost restaurant closed at Olive and Chestnut avenues in 1997, he bought the eatery’s neon sign and restored it.The sign now hangs inside his northwest Fresno business, Commercial Neon, among dozens of other neon signs that he saved from the wrecking ball.He also collected motorcycles. He had about two dozen of them, including a 1968 Norton 750 and a 1972 Bulltaco flat track racer hat he keeps in his northwest Fresno office.Mr. Tanielian died July 18 after crashing a 2008 Ducati DS1100 motorcycle on a sweeping curve on Highway 25 in the backroads of Monterey County. He was 57 years old.“It was a freak accident,” said his wife, Susan Tanielian. “It still hard to believe it happened.” In addition to his wife, Mr. Tanielian leaves behind two children, Andromeda and Arlen, and a legacy of commercial neon signs that dot Fresno and the Valley.Among his creations is a tall neon sign along Highway 99 in north Fresno that tells the time and temperature to passing motorists. His company also created the 85-foot Tachi Palace casino sign in Lemoore — one of largest neon signs in the California when it built around 1997.Friends and family said Tuesday that Mr. Tanielian died doing what he loved: riding a motorcycle on a open road with the wind in his face.“He was very cool in everything he did,” said longtime friend, Carrie Zulewski, of Fresno.Zulewski recalled that Mr. Tanielian liked to make people feel special. She recalled that she once organized a dinner event and Mr. Tanielian made a bumper sticker that said “the Z team” and handed them out to guests.“Everybody laughed, but they loved them,” Zulewski said. “The stickers ended up all over town.”Mr. Tanielian also had a serious side. He loved his church — the downtown Holy Trinity Armenian Church — and often reflected how fortunate he was to live in Fresno, especially since his ancestors endured the Armenian genocide.“He never forgot his past,” said Mark Arax, who wrote about Tanielian in his book, “West of the West: Dreamers, Believers, Builders, and Killers in the Golden State.”In a chapter called, “Confessions of an Armenian Moonshiner,” Mr. Tanielian is called Suren after his grandfather. The setting is his ranch in the town of Biola near the San Joaquin River. He collected worldly goods such as pin-ball machines, guitars, neon signs, roadsters and motorcycles, and had no clue about farming grapes.But he tells Arax he’s at peace because he had a ranch manager to take care of the crop. “I just walk the rows and take a deep breath,” he said.Born in Fresno, Mr. Tanielian attended Norseman Elementary School, Yosemite Middle School, and McLane High School. An only child, his parents, Harry and Flora Tanielian, owned the Cedar-Olive liquor store.When his father sold the liquor store, his son kept the sign.As a teenager, Mr. Tanielian developed a passion for motorcycles and cars. “He was a genius when it came to engines,” said Arax, 56, who met Mr. Tanielian at church Sunday school. “He could tear apart any engine and rebuild it.”He also was great at pin-stripping cars, Arax said.Susan Tanielian said her husband showed a flair for sign painting as a kid, when he and his aunt Helen Torigian would paint Christmas settings on store windows all over town.From McLane, Mr. Tanielian went to Los Angeles to work for a company that pin-stripped cars. At age 21, he returned to Fresno and worked for Arnold Signs during the week and traveled to car and motorcycle shows on the weekends, his wife said. Once he became a master of both pin-stripping and hand lettering, he left Arnold Signs and went to work for Ed Antenucci Signs to learn the art of making electric and neon signs.During the day, Mr. Tanielian made patterns for signs. At night, he learned the neon craft from Howard Lund, his wife said.After mastering the trade, Mr. Tanielian lstarted his own company in a garage he built next to his home on Thesta Avenue near Olive Avenue. He later purchased Ward Sign and Graphics, turning it into Commercial Neon. The business was on Barstow Avenue near Highway 99 for 13 years before it moved to a four-acre site on Golden State Boulevard. When it opened in January 2000, it was the largest sign fabrication company in the Valley, Susan Tanielian said.Though Mr. Tanielian was a workaholic, his wife said he joined the Indian Guides with Andromeda and coached all of Arlen’s sports teams. He also was a past president and board member emeritus of the California Sign Association. In addition, he was a member of the Fresno Exchange Club and past president and board member of his church.He often held fund-raisers at his business for local charities, including for the river parkway and the California Armenian Home.Mr. Tanielian was with friends and headed to the Laguna Seca track to watch motorcycle races when he crashed and hit a barb-wire fence, and then a metal pole, the California Highway Patrol said.His last project was pinstripping his 1932 Ford Roadster, which he finished shortly before his last birthday on July 11, his wife said.“He was so creative and so organized,” Susan Tanielian said. “He packed 150 years in his 57 years of living.”Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/07/30/3415573/neon-sign-maker-jeff-tanielian.html#storylink=cpy
Talked to Jeff many times...matter of fact he approached me about 5 years ago to help him get some traditional cars to his car shows. RIP.
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