A few Route 66 aficionados became alarmed when they saw in February the Richfield sign atop the restored Cucamonga Service Station in Rancho Cucamonga, California, had vanished.
Don’t worry, folks. The sign’s absence turns out to be temporary. The station’s owners eventually will reinstall and lower by two feet the Richfield sign to satisfy the owner of a nearby electronic billboard, according to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
The move came with the blessing of Anthony Gonzalez, president of the Route 66 Inland Empire California Association that restored the century-old gas station.
The newspaper reported:
Its removal resulted in public outcry, though officials with Inland Empire California Association said there was no dispute over the request.
Brian Smith, leasing manager for Lamar Advertising Company, which owns the newer billboard, had informed the nonprofit that the Richfield sign was blocking its own.
“We immediately took it down,” Gonzalez said. “We did not want to incur any problems with the advertiser, so we took it down and we were in the process of coming up with a different way of putting the sign back, so it did not block the advertiser.”
Gonzalez met with the billboard’s owner in late June to discuss a solution. They determined they will lower the Richfield sign by about two feet to not impede the view of the billboard. In turn, the sign will not affect the look of the Cucamonga Service Station, Gonzalez said. Route 66 IECA will reinstall the sign shortly after it signs a contract with the billboard owner later this month.
Lamar Advertising donated the land on which the historic Route 66 service station sits to the Route 66 IECA.
The gas station, which once sold Richfield gasoline (later Arco), opened in 1915. It finally closed during the 1970s. A billboard company used it for storage until Route 66 IECA came along in 2013. The Rancho Cucamonga City Council bestowed historic landmark status to Cucamonga Service Station in 2009.
Cucamonga Service Station now exists at a museum. The station’s hours run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Once the sign goes back up, Gonzalez said the next order of Route 66 IECA’s business is to reconstruct the garage that once sat on the back of the property. The original garage collapsed during a storm a few years ago.
Gonzalez said the new garage in the back would allow Route 66 IECA to expand its exhibition space and allow it to host gatherings.
(Image of Cucamonga Service Station in 2015 courtesy of Route 66 IECA)