Cambria, San Simeon get new gateway signs on Hwy. 1

It’s been a long road to get them done, but visitors to two North Coast towns are being formally welcomed to those areas now by custom-designed gateway monuments on Highway 1.

The projects to get those monuments designed, approved, built and placed — originally launched by Caltrans — have been in the works for more than a dozen years.

The roadside installations might still be languishing if not for the continual efforts of two men who doggedly pursued the concept and the governmental agency with the money and connections, Mel McColloch of Cambria and Michael Hanchett Sr. of San Simeon.

During the lengthy planning process for the formal North Coast Scenic Byway Gateway Monument projects, the Cambria and San Simeon locations and designs were tweaked by chamber of commerce leaders, governmental officials, community members and designers working for the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG).

The end results represent collaboration, compromise and hefty doses of patience and persistence.

What is a gateway monument?

According to the April 2005 Caltrans media release launching the project, “a gateway monument is a freestanding structure or sign depicting the name of a city, county or township. It may display the officially adopted seal or slogan of a local jurisdiction.”

At that time, there was no state funding available for the program, but eventually, SLOCOG was able to get a $304,000 Federal National Scenic Byway Grant to pay for three monuments, one each for Cambria, San Simeon and San Luis Obispo.

“We were happy to be able to work with all the stakeholders and provide signs that fit the communities, Jeff Brubaker, transportation planner for the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG), said in Cambria on Oct. 13, soon after that monument was completed.

Some other communities originally had been included in the proposal, but opted out or were eliminated for a variety of reasons.

Cambria

Cambria’s sign is on a rise just south of the northernmost intersection of Moonstone Beach Drive and Highway 1. The sign is mounted within sight of the southbound lane of the busy All-American Highway and national scenic byway.

The custom sign face, which uses only the town’s name to inform visitors that they’re in Cambria, was installed into its redwood frame and base on Friday, Oct. 13.

Now that the contracted work paid for by a $75,000 grant is complete, any landscaping and additional messages would be done by the county or other entities, Brubaker said.

For instance, project cheerleader McColloch, president of the Cambria chamber board, said on completion day that he’d expected to see — and still wants — on the sign’s back side a “thank you; come back soon” kind of message to northbound drivers leaving Cambria. Such an addition would be similar to the message on the back of the community signboard on the south end of town, at the intersection of Main Street, Ardath Drive and the highway.

That southerly sign is one reason why state officials nixed the original concept for two matching Cambria monuments. Caltrans wouldn’t approve the alternatives: having two community-identifier signs in the same general area; a sign that possibly blocked the line of sight for drivers; or moving the existing sign.

Near the new monument, McColloch said one small tree may need to be relocated or removed, to avoid having it grow large there and block the sign in the future. And he hopes the county or other agency soon will authorize funding for and installing some plantings around the new monument, similar to what was done for the San Simeon monument.

San Simeon

San Simeon’s $125,000 monument with its rockwork base and landscaping has been in place since mid-September. It’s alongside Highway 1’s northbound lane just south of the tiny community that straddles both sides of the All-American Road.

The tiny town should have had a head start on the process. Artist Pierre Radamacher of San Luis Obispo completed the sign’s design in 1993, according to Hanchett of Cavalier Resorts and president of the San Simeon Chamber of Commerce. He said Radamacher is “a good man … who has stood with us through this time,” 25 years of trying to get an entrance monument for San Simeon.

Such a sign is especially important for that community because there are four notable parts to San Simeon: the commercial/residential strip that straddles Highway 1, which is where the sign is; Old San Simeon Village with Sebastian’s and Hearst Winery, the pier and the cove at San Simeon Bay, and the Coastal Discovery Center; San Simeon State Park, including the campground; and of course Hearst Castle, the State Park high on the hill that used to be William Randolph Hearst’s crown jewel of his “ranch” estate.

But having a design was only part of the process, and getting funds and governmental approvals for placement proved to be the longtime log jam in the project.

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 9:55 AM with the headline "Cambria, San Simeon get new gateway signs on Hwy. 1."