“Fabrication, installation, and maintaining of community ID signs are an integral part of the sign industry and the “Hillcrest Sign” in San Diego is no exception. CSA member companies have played a part of this landmark’s history, most recently with YESCO, retrofitting the San Diego neon sign with changing LEDs. The sign, built in the 1940s for the Hillcrest neighborhood, celebrated Mardi Gras in green and yellow. It now has 16 million color options.” 

As one of the owners of Pacific Sign Construction Inc. in 1984, we were asked to be part of the ID Sign retrofitting team. (Roy Flahive, 1984, pictured right.) Little did we know it would become an international incident… well, almost! With my then partners John Walker and Larry Russ, we accepted responsibility for the installation of the iconic sign, with new steel columns, larger deeper footings, stronger support cables, etc.; all volunteer work, no compensation whatsoever. After securing the building permit for the project and having the locations for the new concrete footings reviewed and approved by all underground locating services, (indicating it was all clear to have Anderson Drilling dig both new footings), two days later, I received a call from the President of the Hillcrest Association, indicating there was a problem with the digging operation. My response was, Anderson was one of the largest excavating companies in the state and they could handle any problem that might have arisen. His response was, “The US Marine Major, who is on site with armed guards posted at one of the new footings, wants the owner of the sign company holding the installation permit present at the job site immediately!”

The US Marine Major, who is on site with armed guards posted at one of the new footings, wants the owner of the sign company holding the installation permit present at the job site immediately!

Needless to say, I arrived on site ASAP where I was confronted by a very angry Marine Major asking me if we were attempting to break into the National Defense Telephone System, under guise as a sign installation project. Once informed of the true scope of this project, along with the fact that all our work was being donated to this community ID sign restoration project, cooler heads prevailed. Only then did the Major inform me that, located in the bottom of the new footing hole, there was a very old style Red-Tile electrical conduit, which housed the Very Top Secret phone lines for all the military bases in the greater San Diego area!

When the auger drill bit bumped the conduit, alarms went off at 11th Fleet Naval Headquarters located in downtown San Diego. I was ordered not to share this with anybody other than my two partners (which meant, all the other companies donating their services to this project unfairly thought we were a weak link). The marines stood guard at the site, 24hrs a day for several days, until all reviews and testing had been completed and the phone service was once again ruled, Top Secret Compliant, and the concrete and new steel column had been poured in place. Needless to say, that installation has been a great story – “you ought to hear about this installation!”

History in Brief: Taken down for “refurbishment” in 1984, relit at 8pm on 8/16/84. Later, Repainted in July – 2003; Repainted August – 2009 for 25th anniversary rededication; August-2011, sign was lowered for removal and retrofitted with LED technology and refurbished.

I can now share this information, because all those Secrete phone lines have been replaced with secure satellite communication capabilities.