A long-planned San Pedro arched gateway sign is set to move forward — again.
A project manager has been hired by San Pedro’s downtown-waterfront Business Improvement District and, just days before Christmas, representatives from a number of Los Angeles City departments came together with the PBID to consult on what will be needed to get clearance on the plan.
That’s a huge step forward in the project, which has been languishing for a decade or more, said Bob Iannessa, the PBID’s interim executive director. The sign will arch 18 feet over and across Sixth Street just east of Palos Verdes Street, near Harbor Boulevard, at least as anticipated at this point.
Another big driver for the relaunch: The $250,000 to $350,000 needed to fund the project is now in hand, Iannessa said.
From locations of underground utilities to constraints posed by trees, traffic light fixtures and new developments planned in the area, the effort to nail down as much detail as possible for where and how the sign could be built had to come first.
The goal was to clear away any potential speed bumps that could further slow the plans.
The more artistic aspects of the sign will come later during a public design process.
“You can’t design a sign that can’t be built the way we designed it,” said Tim McOsker, president of the PBID Board of Directors.
A request for proposals is being finalized and should go out shortly, Iannessa said.
Archway signs have been used for decades as monument markers throughout California. Several familiar examples include those in Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, San Diego and Long Beach.
Officials said in 2017 that they hoped the sign could be installed in San Pedro in about a year. It had already been talked about for the previous seven years or so at that time.
Iannessa said he is hopeful the sign now could be up sometime this summer.
McOsker took a more cautious approach.
“We will move as quickly and as carefully as we can,” he said.
A consultant now will begin the work of preparing to issue the request for proposals and going through the design and permitting process. Permits, even with many of the potential constraints known before hand, McOsker said, are often what slow any development down.
“The toughest part of doing anything in the city,” he said, “is to understand the process at the front end, to know what’s required.”
Doing as much vetting as possible beforehand, McOsker said, makes it more likely the process will “have no stops or starts” once it’s underway.
While conceptual renderings exist, the design of the monument will involve a public process, Iannessa said. Wording, images, colors and finishes will all be compared — and a consensus sought.
The process, McOsker said, will be open to the public, though the final decision will be with the PBID, the organization paying for it.
“It’s a blank slate,” at this point, McOsker said of the proposed sign, adding that the design process will not necessarily be easy.
Linda Grimes, executive director of the Arts District, said talks haven’t begun on the design ideas in deference to getting the technical details all worked out first.
“We’re trying to determine what can actually be built,” said PBID board member Eric Eisenberg. “Then that will open the door to designs.”
“In my mind, it will be pretty simple but something that gives a sense of place,” Eisenberg said. “We don’t want flashing beacons; we want something tasteful and historic in nature.”
In a 2017 interview with the Southern California News Group, Eisenberg said the signs become lasting and iconic landmarks for generations, noting that the Santa Monica Pier sign goes back 100 years.
“We don’t want anything too hip or too trendy,” he said at the time. “We want something that will be as attractive in 2050 as it is in 2017.”
With progress underway on a new waterfront development, a flourishing outdoor dining district and new residential/retail mixed-use mid-rises now dotting the area — with more to come — Eisenberg and Iannessa say the town is in a good position to attract more visitors.
A Little Italy district has been formed with a piazza, featuring a fountain set to be finished sometime this year. The gateway sign would stand adjacent to or near that space, Iannessa said.
The sign, he added, is also intended to “be a magnet between the new West Harbor waterfront development and downtown.”
The planned West Harbor is set to open in 2023 — with numerous restaurants and an amphitheater part of the overall design — and will add to other developments that have come to town in just the past few years, Iannessa said, along with renewed efforts to attract more cruise business.
“Now we’re a 12-month cruise ship town” with new year-round cruises recently added, Iannessa said. “There are 288 potential sailings this year out of our harbor.”