Sign Hill, SF
Saturday, 16th April 2005 by James Turnbull
In 1923, the words "South San Francisco the Industrial City" were painted on Sign Hill (It presumably had a different name before that) and five years later, the 60 foot letters were put into cement.
Thanks: JoeM & others.
I’ve always wondered about the history of that sign — any pointers to more information?
I grew up in San Bruno and saw the letters everyday. I’ve gone up to them many times and even used to slide down them on cardboard when i was a kid. Some of them are really steep and they are MASSIVE.
Painted is quite correct, yes they are painted white, but they are made of concrete.
I too would like to find some history about these.
One fun fact is that there used to be a tradition between Cal and Stanford students before the annual big game. Cal students would paint the first “C” in Francisco and the “AL” in Industrial in Blue and Gold. Stanford fans would paint all the “S”‘s red.
During the holiday season every year, there is a large telephone pole at the top of the mountain that his white blubs strung upon it to make a Christmas tree that can be seen for miles. They used to do a cross too during Easter season but that is no longer done.
A history of the sign is here.
I think it’s a cool coincidence that the letters face south, resulting in their ability to be read from this satellite view. 🙂
hi all.