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Renderings courtesy of NPNA

When North Pine Neighborhood Alliance’s Vice President of Community Projects Gina Herrera helped her residential group apply for a beautification grant in early 2011, she had no idea the project would come to fruition just as new energy and retail returned to the area.

But this Friday night, as the Twilight Walk brings residents and visitors to shop and dine on Pine Ave. above 4th St., a new, art deco-inspired “Welcome to Pine Avenue” sign will be unveiled to usher those entering Downtown’s main drag from the north. Part historic revival, yet representative of the strip’s contemporary rebirth, the black-lettered sign will be backlit in white for two distictive daytime/nighttime views.

“We really wanted a 1920s theme to match the architecture of the street,” said Herrera of the sign’s old-school feel. “When you look down Pine from the north, you see all these old buildings and we wanted something that blended with that.”

Purchased using funds awarded by the Downtown Long Beach Associates during its first round of beautification grants, the sign will hang on the north-facing brick wall of DG Boxing, a North Pine business whose building rises a full extra story above its other neighbors. 

Originally, Herrera said, the grant she wrote was to rehab the two smaller “Welcome to Pine” signs that currently exist on the block, but after having a vendor come out and look at them, it was determined they were too old and the material too fragile to refurbish. Both of the old signs–one north-facing and one south-facing–were installed decades ago on private property and only were about three feet tall by four feet wide. 

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The new sign makes a much stronger visual impact and is built to last: made of resin and nearly eight feet wide, it will be installed today in preparation of Friday’s lighting ceremony. 

“The great thing about this sign, too, is that it ended up staying a local project,” said Herrera. “Both the contractor, JMS, and the printer, Zepp Signs, are Downtown businesses. They pay into the PBID fund that [created the DLBA and] pays for these grants.”

Herrera said she and other NPNA board members solicited a lot of input from the community, stopping people at the farmers market and on the street to ask their opinions of possible sign designs. The group also coordinated design efforts with the City and made sure that the plans weren’t in conflict with the forthcoming Pine Ave. refresh, a leftover redevelopment project that will bring streetscape improvements and scrambler crosswalks to Pine Ave. below 4th St.

With North Pine’s business advocacy organization, Historic Old Pine Avenue, organizing events from Twilight Walk to Party on Pine that bring even more activity to the area, the sign is a much-needed welcome mat for those entering the city’s historic core. 

“It’s about pride in our neighborhood and I think this is a big contribution,” Herrera said. “With more energy coming into the area and events put on by HOPA pulling people north, this is a significant addition to the street.”

A lighting ceremony for the new “Welcome to Pine Avenue” sign will be held Friday, August 16 at 8PM on the corner of 8th St. and Pine Ave. during Twilight Walk.

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