26th Anniversary of the University Heights Street Sign

Photo by Dan Soderberg

After three years of planning, the University Heights sign was lit on April 3, 1997, at a festive community event hosted by the University Heights Community Association (UHCA) and the University Heights Community Development Corporation (UHCDC), and attended by over 500 residents. The enthusiasm of the crowd was electric and undampened by the early rain shower to witness this historic event. The rain miraculously stopped when Mayor Golding pulled the switch accompanied by Supervisor Ron Roberts, and Councilmembers Christine Kehoe and Byron Wear.

Efforts began in July of 1994 when community development block grant funding was awarded to the UHCDC for the construction of a University Heights street sign, thanks to the efforts of City Councilmembers Ron Roberts and Christine Kehoe. The community master plan called for the overhead street sign to be located on Park Boulevard just north of Madison Avenue, considered the early commercial district.

The UHCDC sponsored a community-wide contest for a design concept from which the final sign design would be adapted. Over twenty contest entrants presented their designs at the September UHCA meeting. Each sign design entry was unique and creative and the winning design was chosen after a long and intense judging process. Kevin Whaley’s winning concept drawing was unveiled at the UHCA meeting. Kevin’s design contained strong symbols of University Heights’ history – cobblestone pillars, ostriches, and a cable car.

The City of San Diego put the sign construction project out to bid and the Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) was awarded the contract in 1996. Holes were dug in the sidewalk for the cobblestone posts in January 1997, and on March 2, 1997, the sign components arrived on trucks, were raised into the air by large cranes, and assembled on site. The ostriches were then lifted to their places on top of the blue pillars and the cobblestones cemented to the base of the posts.