My age group as in 18-22, the average age group of those attending Ryerson. Think about it, the sign was taken down five years ago. The current fourth years at Ryerson moved to Toronto when the sign was already taken down. The generation under 22, and the upcoming generation will mostly be unaware of the sign. So yes, I can confidently speak for my age group.
I certainly don't feel that way (going back to the generation discussion) because those my age and those younger than me have no emotional attachment to that sign. Just from hearing talk around campus, most students don't really care about Ryerson bringing back the sign. The only ones who are making a fuss about it are those who can't let go of the "old Yonge Street" image. Nostalgia is playing too big of a part in this argument.
Though technically, would those feeling so couldn't-care-less disconnected really have emotional attachment to *anything*, uh, real-or-potential-heritage-wise from before their time? I mean, really: when you think of it, they probably wouldn't think two ways or another if any of the Ryerson zone's existing "heritage" properties like Oakham house--or, for that matter, the Empress/Edison block, had it not met its unfortunate fate--got EIFS'd-up. At least, not unless prompted--and even there, who knows. A heritage ignoramus is a heritage ignoramus, whether they're 18-22 or 38-42 or 58-62.
But re other "iconic" neon/lit-up-signage in Toronto: there's Honest Ed's, of course; there's CHUM (now transplanted to Richmond & Duncan); there's the El Mocambo; and other vanishing bits and pieces (Roncy's been particularly prone to neon being lionized at death's door: the Revue canopy, the Brighton, the Edgewater, Venus Florists--
and the latter's been internally resurrected.)
I agree that there's probably been too much emotionalism in the case for the Sam's sign; indeed, in whatever supposed 70s/80s/90s "golden age" it tended to (rightly) get lost in the Yonge St Strip maw--well, it didn't jump out at you like Honest Ed's--and it only became a domineering presence once it moved next door and into the CIBC and neighbours like A&A's vanished.
And as for Zanzibar, that's an odd case, because only the comparatively prosaic vertical pylon is "of age"; the rest of the razzle-dazzle, gold lame tile finish and all, actually dates from around Y2K and, I'd argue, was motivated out of BIA-era pride, i.e. it's *already* a conscious tribute to Yonge's mythic neon-draped past, and was perhaps even meant as a BIA-style cue for others to follow suit. (IIRC the Zanzibar's owner has long been a Downtown Yonge BIA fixture)
