Orange Grove Shopping Center
Altadena, CA
Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo

The towering sign for Orange Grove Shopping Center gives motorists something to look up at before pulling in to shop. Its mix of rectangular and diamond-shaped panels recalls the days when shopping centers announced themselves with more than a list of tenants. This one makes even a quick errand worth a roadside peek.

Installed in 1959, the sign stands near Orange Grove Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena. Although originally listed here under Altadena, Pasadena’s historical records place it within that city and recognize it as a historic sign.

UPDATE: The Orange Grove sign appears on Pasadena’s historic properties list and the city’s neon driving tour. Its unusual arrangement of lettering and geometric panels remains a documented part of the city’s roadside heritage—a welcome reminder that a neighborhood shopping center could have a landmark of its own. 10-26

West Lake Plaza
Lakewood, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

The sign for West Lake Plaza in Lakewood looks ready to join Speed Racer on the next lap. Its sweeping shape brings the Mach 5 to mind, giving this shopping center an advertisement with a little movement even while standing still. You might be stopping for an ordinary errand, but the sign seems to have something faster in mind.

That playful shape is what makes these older shopping center signs worth watching for. The stores below might change, while an unusual sign becomes the detail everyone remembers when giving directions.

UPDATE: A Westlake Plaza remains listed on Paramount Boulevard in Lakewood, The sign was still there in 2025. 10-26

Para-Lamo (Removed)
Bellflower, CA
Photo courtesy Sal Garcia

The tall sign for Para-Lamo once towered over traffic at Paramount and Del Amo boulevards in Bellflower. The shopping center’s name combined the two streets, giving customers a handy clue to its location. Its towering advertisement did the rest, announcing the shops well before motorists reached the corner. You might not remember every business in the center, but a sign like this could stick with you for years.

These neighborhood shopping centers often had signs with more personality than the buildings behind them. Para-Lamo’s height made it a familiar marker on drives through the area, whether you were pulling in for an errand or continuing down the boulevard.

UPDATE: The Para-Lamo sign has been gone for roughly two decades, removed when the corner was redeveloped for a CVS drugstore. The old name no longer greets traffic at Paramount and Del Amo, and the replacement development gives little reason to picture the shopping center that stood here before. Fortunately, this photo brings the familiar tower back into view for another roadside peek. 10-26

Color Corner
Bellflower, CA
Photo courtesy Sal Garcia

The oversized sign for Color Corner stands tall above the shops in Lakewood. Its branching arrangement recalls the days when shopping center signs could be almost as interesting as the merchandise. This one certainly wasn’t designed to blend into the background, giving passing motorists a landmark to remember long after their shopping was done.

The upper section originally revolved, adding movement to an already eye-catching advertisement. Between its height, unusual shape, and rotating top, Color Corner had several ways to get your attention before you reached the parking lot.

UPDATE: The sign has changed considerably from the version pictured here. The revolving upper section was gone by 2022, and replacement lettering and LED lighting followed by 2024. The sign continues in altered form, but this photo takes us back to the older details that helped make Color Corner such a memorable roadside sight. 10-26

Buena Park Mall (Rem.)
Buena Park, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

The old sign for Buena Park Mall recalls a familiar Orange County shopping destination. Its height and distinctive lettering gave drivers plenty of notice that the stores were coming up. Before checking a directory or finding a parking space, this was the advertisement welcoming shoppers from the road.

The center opened in 1961 and grew through several rounds of expansion and remodeling. Generations of local shoppers knew it through changing department stores, storefronts, and appearances, with the mall sign serving as a familiar marker along the way.

UPDATE : The BPM sign has been replaced with a newer one for the remodeled shopping center.

UPDATE: The old BPM sign pictured here was removed and replaced during the shopping center’s remodeling. The mall later became known as Buena Park Downtown. Buena Park Place is a separate shopping property across the street, rather than another name for this same mall. 10-26

Norwalk Town Square
Norwalk, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

The huge sign for Norwalk Town Square looks something like a fountain reaching into the sky. Its tall supports and looping ornament give the shopping center a little space-age personality at Pioneer Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue. Whether you see a fountain, an antenna, or something ready for launch, this is no ordinary collection of store names.

The shopping center was designed by Stiles O. Clements and developed between 1951 and 1954. Its sign changed over time, so the version pictured here brings together more than one period of roadside design.

UPDATE: Historical sign surveys identify the hoops at the top and the word “Town” as additions from the 1980s. Those familiar flourishes therefore came later than the center’s original construction. The shopping center continues to operate, carrying the Norwalk Town Square name into another generation of neighborhood errands. 10-26

Valley Plaza (Demolished)
North Hollywood, CA
Photo by RoadsidePeek.com

The sign for Valley Plaza in North Hollywood looks as though it might get up and walk away. Its multiple supports, angled beams, and space-age arrangement give it the sort of personality that made Googie advertising so much fun. A shopping center needed to attract motorists, and this one certainly found a way to stand apart from a plain roadside panel.

Opened in 1951, Valley Plaza helped bring big shopping trips closer to home for the growing San Fernando Valley. The sprawling retail district around Victory and Laurel Canyon boulevards became a familiar destination, with department stores and smaller shops drawing generations of customers. Its towering signs helped motorists find their way in a landscape increasingly built around the car.

UPDATE: Years of vacancies, deterioration, and recurring fires brought a major change to part of Valley Plaza. In August 2025, the city declared six vacant buildings public nuisances, clearing the way for demolition that began that October. The Wells Fargo tower was excluded from the teardown order. The demolition marks the loss of another part of the old shopping district, though it does not by itself establish the fate of the particular sign pictured here. This view recalls Valley Plaza when its roadside advertising was still looking toward the future. 10-26

Santa Fe Springs Shopping Center (Demolished)
Santa Fe Springs, CA
Postcard courtesy Sal Garcia

This old postcard takes us back to Santa Fe Springs Shopping Center at Telegraph Road and Pioneer Boulevard. The towering sign gave the center a roadside presence that extended well beyond the storefronts. Before shoppers reached the parking lot, the name overhead let them know they had found the right place. 04-06

The center opened in 1954, with early tenants including W. T. Grant, Market Basket, and David’s Department Store. A three-day celebration accompanied the dedication of a forty-foot shopping center sign in 1956. Getting the name up above the street was apparently worth making an occasion of it.

UPDATE: The old sign is gone, but the claim that the entire shopping property disappeared goes too far. The center later became Santa Fe Springs Promenade, documented as an operating retail property in a 2020 sale report. This postcard preserves the earlier shopping center and the advertisement that once announced it at the corner. 10-26