For nearly eight decades, the warm glow of a handcrafted red-and-white neon sign beckoned passers-by outside the White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village. Dylan Thomas, Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan all imbibed at the storied watering hole, which opened in 1880.

But this year, the sign abruptly went dark. In the spring, the White Horse removed its 1946 neon sign and replaced it with a replica illuminated not by gas but by light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

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Outside the White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village, where an LED-lit replica now hangs in place of the original 1946 neon sign. Credit...Ashok Sinha for The New York Times

Traditionalists promptly began to rage against the dying of the light, and a warning letter to the building’s owner from the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission followed. Because the tavern is in a historic district, any changes to the facade must be approved by the commission.

“It is very disturbing,” Andrew Berman, executive director of Village Preservation, said of the vintage sign’s removal. “The White Horse is really synonymous with the literary, political and cultural history of Greenwich Village, and the neon sign is an integral part of the tavern.”

Eytan Sugarman, the bar’s owner, said that the old sign was falling apart and had become a hazard.

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The bar’s 1946 sign now sits inside, stripped of neon tubing. The owner, Eytan Sugarman, said that the sign was falling apart and had become a hazard. Credit...Ashok Sinha for The New York Times

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