OPA Story: From Blinking Letters to Big Ideas
Built in New Orleans. Built by Listening.
Before OPA was OPA, it started with a knock on a door.
As a teenager in Uptown New Orleans, Peter Barr sold magazines door-to-door with a simple pitch: “For just pennies a day, you can have your three favorite magazines.”
It wasn’t glamorous work. But it taught him something that would shape the company forever: if you’re willing to show up, listen, and work hard, you can build something.
1973: The Early Days
On March 1, 1973, Peter Barr and his cousin founded Commander Board Manufacturers. In a small corner of the Barr family's facility that minted Mardi Gras doubloons, the young men fabricated and sold aluminum track systems with interchangeable letters and blinking lights.
These were the changeable copy signs neighborhood businesses needed. The live crawfish seller. The corner grocery. The bar advertising two-for-one drafts.
Installed by Peter himself, they were practical, affordable, and built to work hard, just like the people they served.
When local zoning laws began restricting changeable copy signage, the company faced its first major crossroads. Business became scarce. Peter’s cousin stepped away to pursue more stable work.
Peter’s older brother, David Barr, stepped into the void. Fresh out of Southeastern Louisiana University with a marketing degree and a natural eye for design, the company pivoted.
Brothers Peter & David Barr with their father
1979: The Beginning of OPA
The brothers expanded into custom electrical signage and screen printing. The combination of fabrication and print capabilities under one roof became their differentiator.
In 1979 a new name followed: On Premise Advertising, known as OPA.
Screen printing grew rapidly. After acquiring the local company Snyder Poster, OPA began producing high-volume promotional graphics for regional brands like K&B, Smoothie King, and Winn-Dixie. Window cards. Weekly specials. Real estate signage. Fast turnaround. Ink everywhere.
At one point, a small handful of major clients accounted for 70% of OPA’s annual profits.
Business was strong until national digital print companies entered the market and absorbed their biggest contracts.
Overnight, OPA was forced to rethink everything.
Screen printed OPA signage for K&B Grocers
Back to Square One
Instead of retreating, Peter and David went back to what they knew.
They knocked on doors again. But this time, they weren’t selling a product.
They were asking questions.
“We had to go out and knock on doors again. And we found out that when we listen to people about their roadblocks, we were pretty good at helping them find a solution.”
Listening to business owners, institutions, and developers about what wasn’t working. And helping them find solutions. The shift changed the company permanently.
OPA evolved from a product-driven shop into a solutions-driven partner.
And early sculpted and painted sign by OPA Signs & Graphics, installed in Texas
Growing With New Orleans
OPA moved toward custom, architectural signage while still serving small neighborhood businesses. As clients grew larger, projects did too: towering channel letter sets, major pylon signs, campus-wide branding overhauls.
When Audubon Institute became a client in 1984, it marked a defining chapter. Audubon’s immersive zoo and aquarium environments demanded creativity, dimensional thinking, and fabrication beyond flat signage.
It was a natural fit.
The partnership pushed OPA into incorporating museum-quality exhibitry, interactive graphics, and complex environmental branding to its book of business. Audubon remains a client today.
The film industry followed. Productions like Ender’s Game and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes turned to OPA for custom builds and fast turnarounds.
“They kept coming back because we made their deadlines. That’s our biggest strength. We take on your problem — and solve it.”
What Sets Us Apart
There are many companies that can print. There are many companies that can fabricate.
Few can do both seamlessly, under one roof, with teams who understand how digital graphics translate into physical environments.
OPA bridges the gap between large-format digital printing and custom manufacturing. Our ability to design, print, fabricate, and install as one coordinated system allows us to move efficiently while maintaining quality and control.
But our real strength isn’t just equipment or capability. It’s listening.
Still Asking Questions
More than five decades later, OPA remains rooted in the same mindset that started it all:
Show up. Ask questions. Solve the problem.
From small neighborhood businesses to major institutions and multi-acre campuses, we approach every project the same way: as a partnership.
We’re proud to be a New Orleans company that has grown alongside the Gulf South.
And we’re still here, still building, still figuring it out.
Peter & David Barr, 2026
