In 1956, the renowned Dr. Seuss wrote a humorous booklet called “Signs of Civilization!” for the La Jolla Town Council. In it two Seuss-invented characters, Guss and Zaxx, attempted to outdo each other in putting up outlandishly large and ridiculous signs to advertise their businesses and products proudly named Guss-ma-Tuss and Zaxx-ma-Taxx. The outcome was that there were so many signs messing up the landscape that property values fell drastically and everybody moved away, not wanting to live in the ugly environment Guss and Zaxx had created.
Of course, there was a lesson: Don’t put up outlandish signs that negatively impact the community. La Jolla has had a love-hate ” although probably more hate than love ” relation to signs throughout its history. The sign issue came to the forefront in the mid-1940s when the real estate brokers jointly agreed not to advertise property for sale with either oversize or otherwise unattractive signs on the landscape. The agreement wasn’t an easy one because Realtors sometimes considered their signs contributing to beauty rather than blight on the landscape ” particularly Hilda Barringer, who had an artist handpaint her signs with a little blue girl trademark. Reluctantly, Ms. Barringer agreed, however, to join the other brokers in their decision.
As old Highway 101 once ran through La Jolla, early beautification committees also had concerns about billboards announcing attractions and products. By 1956, the year of Dr. Seuss’ “Signs of Civilization!,” the La Jolla Town Council took a stand: “We are not going to go the way of most of the rest of California. We are not going to let our town be destroyed by the creeping paralysis of uncontrolled signs!”
At that time, the Town Council advertising sign code outlawed commercial billboards, signs on rooftops, electric signs and for-sale signs on houses and signs on vacant lots. It also called for signs to be limited proportionately to the size of the building and for signs to be flat against buildings, not overhanging sidewalks.
Although such sign codes were locally adopted, true enforcement fell to the City of San Diego, as it remains today. Early on, La Jollans sometimes took sign issues and enforcement on their own shoulders. In 1933, when outdoor advertising and billboards seemed to be getting out of hand on the La Jolla segment of old Highway 101 (including a huge freestanding milk bottle by the side of the roadway!), a sign committee was organized to support the National Council for the Protection of Roadside Beauty. Its campaign resulted in the removal of 20 signs and one billboard in La Jolla.
The committee met with opposition, however, in getting local businesses to remove signs from the sides of buildings. A grocer refused to take down his butter signs painted on two sides of his store, which gave him $15 per year in revenue. Similarly, an ice cream store was diligent in keeping its large signs visible on the basis that it “brings in business which is needed very badly.”
” “Reflections” is a monthly column written for the La Jolla Village News by the La Jolla Historical Society’s historian Carol Olten. The Society, dedicated to the preservation of La Jolla heritage, is located at 7846 Eads Ave. and is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.