By Alexis Shaw
| Wednesday, Sep 14, 2011 | Updated 5:51 PM PDT
Flickr/bradley_newman
The neon sign towers over the former United Artists theater in downtown Los Angeles.
Rest assured, fans of the glowing red "Jesus Saves" signs that until recently graced downtown’s skyline.
The neon signs, a familiar presence in the downtown Los Angeles area for decades, will continue to glow-- in Glendale.
The signs, which soared above the former United Artists Theater, were removed this past Saturday evening.
The billboards were originally installed atop the Church of the Open Door at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles’s campus at 6th Street and Hope, and remained until 1985, when the building was demolished.
It is unclear what happened to the signs between 1985 and 1989.
In 1989, Dr. Gene Scott bought them from a junkyard and moved them to the former United Artists Theatre building, which he transformed into the Los Angeles University Cathedral.
The signs remained above the former theater until Saturday.
Broadway-gaudy in style, reassuring in message, the signs served as a beacon to congregants across the deacdes.
One member of the Church of the Open Door remembered the signs fondly.
"It is sad to see them go," Yvonne Crespo Black commented on the NBC LA Facebook page. "Too bad we can't have them for our new building in Glendora."
Church of the Open Door's Executive Administrator, Judy Cocoris, also expressed similar sentiments.
"I would like to see them [the signs] go to Biola or the Church of the Open Door, but it doesn't really seem like that's possible."
The Los Angeles University Church has moved and set up camp full-time in Glendale at the Faith Center Church, now led by Scott's widow, Pastor Melissa Scott.
The signs are moving with them, reports LA Times’ Larry Harnisch.
According to Curbed LA, the former United Artists theatre has been for sale since 2009, with an asking price of reportedly $15 million, and still has not sold.
