This photo from the archives of Claremont Heritage is said to date to the 1950s. (Click on the image for a larger view.) The sign stood on the corner of Foothill Boulevard (a.k.a. Route 66) and Padua Avenue, today’s Monte Vista Avenue, and directed people to the theater in the foothills. The neon portion is hard to read but the arrow portion reads “3 Miles.”

The painted sign changed as productions by the Mexican Players changed. This one was for the “17th annual spring festival play,” titled “En el Mes de Mayo,” or “In the Month of May.” The people who object to local billboards in Spanish should definitely get in a time machine and complain.

The theater opened in 1930 and closed in 1974. I don’t know any history of the sign, such as when it went up and when it came down, or on which corner it stood. Did you ever see it?