Photo Andrea Firth

In our last issue, we ran a photo of the Orinda sign that popped up in the triangular garden plot across from Orinda Motors on Orinda Way. It turns out this sign has quite a provenance, and the City and the Orinda Historical Society have been in search of a permanent home for the sign for many years.

"The great day has arrived," said Carl Weber, a member of the City's Historic Landmark's Committee, enthusiastically adding, "It's special. It's historical. This sign goes back 75, maybe 80 years."

The sign was originally displayed in the mid-1930's on top of a small real estate office that was located where the sign now sits again. According to Weber, the sign was taken down in 1969 and was stored under the stage in the Community Center for a number of years. The real estate building has long been gone.

Over the past 15 years, the Orinda Historical Society, the most recent custodian of the sign, worked with the City to identify a public place for the sign to reside, and a number of locations were explored. But as the old adage goes, "there's no place like home," and the sign has found its way back to where it started.

While there was some discussion regarding the design for the platform to permanently set the sign in place and whether the sign would be more aesthetically pleasing in another color such as brown or a less glossy green, the Council voted four to one, with Mayor McCormick dissenting, to make the triangular garden plot at the intersection of Orinda Way and El Sobrante the permanent home for the currently green Orinda sign. Stay tuned for news of a color change.