Look up! You’ll see a bold, bright orange sign with giant white letters spelling out “PUBLIC STORAGE CO.” perched high on the rooftop-it’s hard to miss above the building, towering against the sky.
Now, let me whisk you back to 1926. Picture Fair Oaks Avenue bustling with travelers on the legendary Route 66-honk if you love history! Sixty feet above their heads, this very sign blazed a neon path, shouting out “Bekins Storage Co.” It was more than a rooftop ornament; it was a glowing landmark calling out to motorists, “Hey! Safe storage inside!” In its early days, the sign glowed with new neon magic in 1929, like Pasadena’s own slice of Times Square.
Back then, rooftop signs were as common as a Model T Ford sputtering down Route 66. But over the years, Pasadena cracked down on giant rooftop signs. As others disappeared, this one stood strong-like it had a storage contract with destiny! Even when the name changed (from Bekins to A. American Storage, and now Public Storage), this sign kept its place in the skyline, watching decades roll by like travel trailers on an old highway. It’s the last big pre-World War II rooftop sign in the city, now protected by law-and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1997. Just imagine, if this sign could talk, it’d have enough stories to fill a hundred storage lockers.
