The lighted, gateway sign that\u2019s welcomed Coast Highway 101 travelers to the city\u2019s downtown for more than two decades may receive a facelift.<\/p>\n
A funding request up for approval at Wednesday\u2019s City Council meeting calls for replacing the sign\u2019s corroded \u201cENCINITAS\u201d letters and converting the lighting to an LED system.<\/p>\n
Erected in 2001 to \u201creflect the city\u2019s rich history and coastal culture,\u201d the huge, hanging sign has only received minor repairs, plus an annual power washing, since 2014, city records indicate.<\/p>\n
Replacing the lettering is estimated to cost about $47,600, while the LED conversion project is forecasted to be about $123,400, and the future annual maintenance expenses are expected to be $28,800, a city staff report produced for Wednesday\u2019s 6 p.m. meeting states.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conversion of the gateway sign from neon to LED will enhance energy efficiency, reduce maintenance costs, improve visibility and attractiveness and improve reliability as LED lighting consumes less power and has a longer lifespan,\u201d the report states. \u201cThe proposed lights are anticipated to last approximately 14 years, running an average of 11 hours per day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposed contractor \u2014 YESCO, a 100-year-old company known for creating the iconic \u201cWelcome to Las Vegas\u201d sign in the 1950s \u2014 has determined that it will be more cost-effective to put new letters on the sign, rather than refurbishing the existing ones, the staff report continues.<\/p>\n
When the sign was installed in November 2001, a crowd gathered to watch, according to newspaper accounts. Dozens of \u201canxious onlookers\u201d took photos and worried aloud about the sign\u2019s sturdiness as a city crew hung it onto a new rigid support system, reporter Spencer Soper wrote in a story for the former North County Times.<\/p>\n
Onlookers had valid reasons to raise concerns \u2014\u00a0 a year earlier the city had tried to hang the sign from a cable system, but had to take it down a month later \u201cafter strong winds slapped it around like a pi\u00f1ata,\u201d Soper wrote.<\/p>\n
Despite that previous installation issue, some onlookers were thrilled to see the sign rising into place in November 2001, calling it a historic event, a \u201cwonderful photographic opportunity\u201d and a symbol of the downtown\u2019s historic importance.<\/p>\n
The sign is a replica of one that hung over the coastal highway route in the 1920s and 1930s \u201cwhen much of downtown Encinitas was first built,\u201d Soper noted in his article.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 13, 2025 at 11:40 AM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The lighted, gateway sign that\u2019s welcomed Coast Highway 101 travelers to the city\u2019s downtown for more than two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,4601,4602,4603,23,100,3054,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-3779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-encinitas","10":"tag-encinitas-advocate","11":"tag-encinitas-advocate-news","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-north-county","15":"tag-san-diego","16":"tag-san-diego-county","17":"tag-san-diego-headlines","18":"tag-san-diego-news","19":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}