Neon Majorette
San Diego, CA
Photo courtesy Thad V'Soske

Still twirling after all these years, the Campus Drive-in Theatre gives San Diego one of its more memorable roadside displays. The towering figure once graced the Campus Drive-In Theatre on El Cajon Boulevard, where her glowing baton helped make a night at the movies an attraction before the feature started.

Installed in 1948, the animated sign used sequenced neon to make the baton appear to turn. Quite a performance for someone who never left her perch. The figure originally stood against a much larger scene painted across the theater’s screen tower.

The drive-in disappeared in 1983, but fortunately the majorette escaped the wrecking crew. Preservation efforts brought her to College Grove, giving the old theater landmark another audience among the shopping-center customers.

UPDATE: The majorette survives at College Grove after relocations, restoration, and time in storage. Ownership passed to SOHO in 2001, with the shopping-center owner agreeing to maintain the sign and illuminate it during nighttime operating hours. The movies moved on, but this roadside performer kept her place in the show. 10-26

Mission Hills Shopping Center (Gone)
San Diego, CA
Photo courtesy M.C. Morrissey

After dark, the Mission Hills Shopping Center gave West Washington Street a broad splash of neon. Check out the lettering stretching across the facade, with enough color and glow to turn a shopping trip into a roadside stop of its own.

The center’s unified frontage brought several older buildings together beneath a mid-century appearance. Customers saw one long commercial face, while earlier architectural details waited behind it. The neon supplied the evening introduction.

UPDATE: The old shopping-center frontage and its wide neon lettering were lost during redevelopment. Historic buildings concealed behind the later facade were preserved and restored as part of the project, retaining pieces of the earlier Mission Hills streetscape beneath the center’s changing appearance. 10-26

Palomar Market
San Diego, CA
Photo courtesy M.C. Morrissey

A familiar neon glow marks Palomar Market on West Washington Street in San Diego. The liquor lettering follows a fairly standard neighborhood-store style, but ordinary advertising can look pretty good once the sun goes down.

Check out the red and blue lighting around the storefront. No elaborate roadside spectacular needed here. A few glowing words give passing customers the message and give sign hunters another reason to pause along the block.

The business traces its roots to 1929, placing it among the neighborhood’s longtime merchants. The current neon came along somewhere in that history, though the store’s age alone doesn’t establish when the tubes were first installed.

UPDATE: Palomar Market remains open, with its familiar storefront neon continuing the neighborhood look. Independently family-owned since 1998, the shop carries on as a local stop for drinks and convenience goods. A little everyday commercial glow still has its place along Washington Street. 10-26

ABC Liquor
San Diego, CA
Photo courtesy M.C. Morrissey

Off Voltaire Street in Ocean Beach, ABC Liquor adds another retro marquee to the San Diego collection. Perhaps a plain sort of sign compared with some of the city’s bigger neon displays, but there’s enough old neighborhood character here to catch the eye.

The freestanding corner sign keeps the message simple. Three familiar letters and the liquor-store announcement do the work, without a giant arrow or a bottle pouring overhead. Sometimes that’s all a neighborhood stop needs.

The original notes included a rumor that the sign dated to the 1940s. Fact or fiction? The older styling makes the story tempting, but a sign’s appearance doesn’t settle its age. Nor does a later building date rule out an older sign being reused.

UPDATE: ABC Liquor remains open at Voltaire and Ebers, with its retro corner sign surviving. The supplied property history places the business footprint in 1956, while the sign’s own installation date remains undocumented. Those familiar letters still leave a little history to sort out. 10-26

Falcon Liquor
San Diego, CA
Photo courtesy M.C. Morrissey

Evening brings out another side of Falcon Liquor on West Washington Street. The projecting sign catches the eye during the day, but after dark its reddish-orange neon spreads beyond the lettering and onto the sidewalk below.

The double-faced marquee reaches out from the building, giving approaching customers a view from either direction. It’s a practical arrangement with a little extra roadside appeal. The store gets its name across, and the corner gets some color.

UPDATE: Falcon Liquor continues operating in San Diego’s Mission Hills neighborhood, retaining its familiar projecting neon sign. The marquee remains a distinctive part of the storefront, giving this corner shop an evening appearance worth slowing down to admire. 10-26

University Heights Sign
San Diego, CA
Photo courtesy Ken Lux

Neon overhead gives University Heights a bright welcome along Park Boulevard. The neighborhood sign brings a little old-fashioned roadside ceremony to the drive, with enough detail to reward a closer look before continuing down the street.

UPDATE: The University Heights sign was first illuminated on April 3, 1997, following three years of community planning. Its neon, streetcar details, and golden ostriches brought several pieces of local history together in one landmark. A newer arrival with plenty of affection for the neighborhood’s earlier days. 10-26