Hundreds of you joined us on Jan. 8 to celebrate the dedication of the Carlsbad Sign. It was such a great community-building event and I was proud to be a part of the celebration. For those of you who weren't there, or who couldn't listen to what I had to say at the event, I wanted to publish the words of my speech. I think they provide an important link of what the sign is really about, and why the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce took the lead in this project.
A lot of things change over the years and over the decades with the passage of time. Some things never do.
Today, we stand here to dedicate and light this sign, a gift to the City of Carlsbad from the business community and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, made possible by a generous gift from TaylorMade Golf and by the vision of Carlton Lund, who preceded me as chairman of the Chamber's Board of Directors.
This sign is a near-replica of a sign that stood near here in the late 1930s, but there are few details about what happened to that original marker. There's a grainy photo from which this design was taken and a small two-paragraph blurb published in a column on the Carlsbad Journal on August 11, 1938.
The article, headlined as "Lighted Carlsbad Sign Marks South Entrance," talks about the effort of the Community Club, the California-Carlsbad hotel and Albert Cohn, a successful Los Angeles based grocer who retired here in Carlsbad and was known for philanthropic causes and development here in Carlsbad. In fact, coincidentally, his home and estate was just a stone's throw from here.
The article concludes that, "the large sign is illuminated by night, and can be seen from a considerable distance."
The "Community Club" mentioned in the article was none other than the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. You might know that this organization has been around for more than 90 years, but it, too, was hard hit by the Great Depression. Our Chamber went on hiatus in 1936 and 1937 and held very few meetings.
In 1938 and 1939, when that article was published, the Chamber was revived with the help of then-Chamber President Sam Fraser, who added a new twist. The Chamber was renamed to the Carlsbad Community Improvement Club in the hopes of attracting both residents and business owners. The organization went back to being the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce in 1940.
Today feels like a historic occasion but only time will tell whether this sign is truly iconic, or if it too will be forgotten by the passage of time.
My prediction is that this sign will become a much beloved icon in the City of Carlsbad for years to come. Though it has only been up for a little while, the response from the community has been positive.
It creates a great sense of place for those cruising down another icon that was lost to time, Route 101.
So what are the things that don't change in Carlsbad?
One of those things is the leadership that the business community and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce have provided to this City over the years. Before the City incorporated in 1952, the Chamber took up many causes that shaped Carlsbad into the city that it would become.
That's why we're here, to dedicate this awe-inspiring sign that is testament to the important role that business has played in the City of Carlsbad's success.
This will be inscribed in a commemorative plaque that will soon be placed on one of these support beams.
A lot of things change over the years and over the decades with the passage of time. Some things never do.
Today, we stand here to dedicate and light this sign, a gift to the City of Carlsbad from the business community and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, made possible by a generous gift from TaylorMade Golf and by the vision of Carlton Lund, who preceded me as chairman of the Chamber's Board of Directors.
This sign is a near-replica of a sign that stood near here in the late 1930s, but there are few details about what happened to that original marker. There's a grainy photo from which this design was taken and a small two-paragraph blurb published in a column on the Carlsbad Journal on August 11, 1938.
The article, headlined as "Lighted Carlsbad Sign Marks South Entrance," talks about the effort of the Community Club, the California-Carlsbad hotel and Albert Cohn, a successful Los Angeles based grocer who retired here in Carlsbad and was known for philanthropic causes and development here in Carlsbad. In fact, coincidentally, his home and estate was just a stone's throw from here.
The article concludes that, "the large sign is illuminated by night, and can be seen from a considerable distance."
The "Community Club" mentioned in the article was none other than the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. You might know that this organization has been around for more than 90 years, but it, too, was hard hit by the Great Depression. Our Chamber went on hiatus in 1936 and 1937 and held very few meetings.
In 1938 and 1939, when that article was published, the Chamber was revived with the help of then-Chamber President Sam Fraser, who added a new twist. The Chamber was renamed to the Carlsbad Community Improvement Club in the hopes of attracting both residents and business owners. The organization went back to being the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce in 1940.
Today feels like a historic occasion but only time will tell whether this sign is truly iconic, or if it too will be forgotten by the passage of time.
My prediction is that this sign will become a much beloved icon in the City of Carlsbad for years to come. Though it has only been up for a little while, the response from the community has been positive.
It creates a great sense of place for those cruising down another icon that was lost to time, Route 101.
So what are the things that don't change in Carlsbad?
One of those things is the leadership that the business community and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce have provided to this City over the years. Before the City incorporated in 1952, the Chamber took up many causes that shaped Carlsbad into the city that it would become.
That's why we're here, to dedicate this awe-inspiring sign that is testament to the important role that business has played in the City of Carlsbad's success.
This will be inscribed in a commemorative plaque that will soon be placed on one of these support beams.