Button Copy Freeway Signs

For most of my life, I have always seen button copy signs on every freeway in Southern California. This was because the state of California and Caltrans used only use button copy signs on the freeways for many decades. Sadly, many of those signs are now gone for two reasons: First, most of those signs date back between the late 1950’s to the early 1970’s, which meant that many of those signs are at least 40 years and that they are showing a lot of wear and tear and second, according to Wikipedia, no company has produced new button copy signs since the early 2000’s or so. This means that all the old button copy signs on L.A.-area freeways will eventually be replaced with newer reflective freeway signs that are already used in just about other state. In addition, the new signs will also include exit numbers, as required by federal law; California long had a waiver for this requirement, but that was stuck down in the courts in 2001.

This an example of an old button copy sign on a L.A.-area freeway

The old button copy signs meant a lot of memories to me. We often pass by those signs whenever we were going to just about anywhere. I also found that these signs have a historical story in them. Some of those signs have been changed numerous times. One example was that some old button copy signs have green plates to cover routes that no longer exists in the area, like U.S. 6, U.S. 395, CA-11(now CA/I-110) , or CA-7(now I-710). The 11 freeway became the 110 freeway in 1981 and the 7 freeway became the 710 freeway in 1984. In addition, most old freeway signs have the freeway name on it, but on newer signs, including later model button copy signs no longer mentions the freeway name and replaces it with the direction of the freeway (north, south, east, and west).

To put this into more detail, older button copy signs were initially made of steel, then switched to aluminum in 1985. The letters were made of porcelain and attached to the steel or aluminum body.  Also, the shade of green used on California freeway signs were darker than those of other states, as well as newer freeway signs in California. Another unique aspect was that button copy freeway signs were supposed to last longer that conventional freeway signs (40 years, compared to usual 15 years) and reflector dots were added lettering to the signs because the signs themselves were not reflective; later button copy signs had those built-in. Lastly, the old freeway signs cost more to make than regular freeway signs.

Some L.A. freeways now have these kinds of signs that are already used elsewhere

Today, many Southern California freeways still have button copy signs, but most are now showing its age, especially the older steel ones. Some signs have rust in it, while others appears to be very dirty and hard to read, because the glue used in the signs ages after many years. Newer button copy signs, on the other hand is showing some warping and color changing. On some stretches of freeway in Los Angeles, the button copy signs are practically all but gone because of widening projects and/or the age of the signs and the newer reflective signs with exit numbers are now in place.

I predict that sooner or later, button copy signs will be thing of the past on L.A. freeways, just like call boxes, as mentioned in an earlier post. It is already a thing of the past elsewhere.

This site has more pictures of old button copy signs – some still there, some gone.

Special Thanks to: Daniel Faigin, Mike Ballard, and aaroads.com.

The Old Sherman Oaks Galleria

Back in the 1980’s and 90’s, the primer spot to hang out in the San Fernando Valley was the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Located near the interchange of two of the world’s busiest freeways, the I-405 San Diego Freeway and the US-101 Ventura Freeway, on the corner of Sepulveda and Ventura Boulevards in Sherman Oaks, which is a part of the city of Los Angeles, the Sherman Oaks Galleria was a large and often busy mall during the first 19 years of operation (1980-1999).

The Galleria from 1980 to 1999.

It started out as a more typical large indoor mall, with three stories of stories, restaurants, a movie theater, which was owned by Pacific Theaters, and two anchor stores, Robinson’s and the May Company (both now part of Macy’s). This mall was also famous for creating the unique “Valley Girl” culture during the 1980’s, as mentioned in the 1982’s Frank Zappa’s song of the same name. Many teens from all over the valley used to hang out and shopped around the galleria, as well as to see a movie on the third floor of the mall. The Galleria was also used as a shooting location in many Hollywood films that were made in the 1980’s, including Fast Times at Ridgemeont High (1982), Commando (1985), and even a movie named “Valley Girl” (1983).

However, by the 1990’s, the Galleria would fall on really hard times. First, in 1993, Robinson’s and the May Company merged to form Robinson’s-May, leaving the Galleria with only one anchor store. Robinson’s-May would eventually become part of Macy’s by 2006. The next year (January 17, 1994), the Galleria suffered some damage from the magnitude 6.7 Northridge Earthquake and was closed for 11 days after the quake. By the late 1990’s, the Galleria had very little business as most of the stories were closed, due to lack of sales and interest. The Galleria management also evicted the anchor store, Robinson’s-May for lease violations. In 1999, the old Sherman Oaks Galleria was closed and torn down. It was a very sad day for shoppers who remembered the time that “Valley Girls” used to rule the Galleria and made it the cultural institution of the San Fernando Valley.

It would take three years for the Galleria to be completely re-built and in 2002, the Galleria re-opened, but as a very different and much smaller mall. It is also an outdoor mall, unlike the old Galleria; much of old Galleria was replaced with office spaces for a number of clients including Warner Bros. However, the movie theater is still there, now owned by Arclight Cinemas.

The Galleria Today

While the Sherman Oaks Galleria is still there today, the real experience of shopping at the Galleria is long gone and just a distant memory.

Special Thanks to Wikipedia for providing some insight about the Galleria’s past.

The Disappearing Freeway Call Box

A call box on Interstate 215 in the Inland Empire. Photo credit: SANBAG.

For decades, whenever you drive the freeways in Southern California, you see these blue signs with yellow boxes below the sign, all over the places. These things were known as “Call Boxes“. Call Boxes were used to provide help for motorists who were stranded on the freeways. For most of my life, I have seen a lot of these kinds of boxes, at least until mobile phones overtook the land-line phones at the end of the 2000’s.

Until the end of the 1990’s, Call boxes were found every 1/4 miles on most Southern California freeways. However, between in recent years, most call boxes on Southern California freeways were removed for two reasons: One was, the increasing costs to maintain call boxes. California’s budget crisis of recent years, made keeping boxes like these a challenge because there was not enough money to go around. The other was the usage of these boxes fell by 80 percent between 2001 and 2011, according to a study by MTC (Metropolitan Transportation Commission) in Northern California, as more and more drivers use mobile phones for help instead of call boxes. According to the OCTA (Orange County Transportation Authority), only half of the 585 Call Boxes that were installed on Orange County freeways in the 1980’s are still in operation.

Each call box are marked by the route number of the freeway (such as the 5, 10, 101, 210, 405, etc.), followed by the post mile number. Freeway Call Boxes are placed on the right shoulder of the freeway by local governments, not Caltrans. This means, entities like the Los Angeles County MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority), the OCTA, or SANBAG (San Bernardino County Governments) are in charge of those little boxes, and therefore they are the ones that put up (or remove) the call boxes.

Today, when I drive on a Los Angeles-area freeway, I now only see a few call boxes when I am on the freeway; there is only one call box per mile. On some freeways, Call Boxes are all but gone. In the coming years, if current trends continue, more and more call boxes will be removed from the freeways. Eventually, call boxes on Southern California freeways will become just memory of my younger days.

The Brown Derby

For most of the 20th Century, one of the most unique restaurants in Los Angeles was the Brown Derby. From 1926 to the early 1990’s, the Brown Derby was very popular, not just for the food they serve, but also for its distinctive shape. The exterior of some Brown Derby restaurants looked like a brown Derby hat and this where the restaurant chain got its name.

The first Brown Derby restaurant was on 3427 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles, but moved one block to 337 Wilshire in 1937, where it remained there until 1980, when it was torn down and replaced with a shopping mall, known as the Brown Derby Plaza, and eventually a Korean mini-mall, where it stands today.

The second Derby opened in the heart of Hollywood (Hollywood Blvd. and Vine St.), three years later in 1929. Although, it looked much more ordinary that the Wilshire location, the Hollywood Brown Derby was famous in its own right, thanks to the stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood who regularly ate there. Inside that restaurant, there were drawings of hundreds of Hollywood’s best actors and actresses of its day. It was also the place where the Cobb salad was born. It was named after the owner and founder, Robert Cobb and was designed for theater owner Sid Grauman, who had dental work done and can’t chew, Irving Thalberg, who had digestion problems, and his movie star wife, Norma Shearer, who was watching her weight. What makes the Cobb salad unique was that all the key ingredients were finely chopped to make digestion easier. The Hollywood Brown Derby would remain there until 1987, when it was largely destroyed by a fire. Today, it is a parking lot for visitors to Hollywood.

There were two additional and lesser-known Brown Derby locations, in Beverly Hills and Los Feliz. Those locations existed until 1983 and 1992, respectively. The Beverly Hills location is long gone, while the Los Feliz location, was converted into a night club, known as the Derby. Today, the Los Feliz location survives as a pub, known as the Mess Hall Kitchen.

The Brown Derby also survives today as a restaurant located inside Disney Parks, such as Disneyland, in Anaheim, Calif. and Disney World in Orlando, and in Ohio.

Photos from Wikipedia

Some material in this post were from the KCET program, “Things that aren’t here anymore” (1995).