CITY OF SIGNAL HILL
2175 Cherry Avenue Signal Hill, California 90755-3799 January 4, 2011
AGENDA ITEM
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR
AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: KENNETH C. FARFSING
CITY MANAGER
SUBJECT: CITY SEALS
Summary:
City staff has been researching and collecting the various city seals that have been used since incorporation. From 1924 to present, five seals have been used. Staff will give a powerpoint presentation showing each of the seals.
Recommendation:
Receive and file.
Fiscal Impact:
Staff would like to place these images onto tiles for display at City facilities. Costs for this project will be requested in the FY 2011/2012 budget.
Background and Analysis:
Staff recently uncovered a number of vintage city seals from several different mediums.
The original city seal embosser which the city’s first city clerk, George Cooper, was directed to purchase in 1924 is still being used today. One seal was recovered from an antique vinyl decal donated by Neena Strichart and one seal was discovered on the back of an annual report from FY 1964/1965.
Attachment B
City Seals
January 4, 2011
The city worked with a graphic artist who converted all of the city’s seals to digital vector art which will allow us to reproduce them to any format to use in future brochures or other artwork.
Below is a 1940 letterhead graphic with the city hall address. This was the only example of letterhead from that era that has turned up so far. This is presumably due to correspondence being carbon copied onto plain white paper and because of document destruction. According to the graphic designer used by the city to convert these files, this letterhead was made with a carved wood press which was popular during this period. Using a block of wood, the lettering and design were carved. In order to do the background or other areas not in solid black, the designer would carve lines across to give it a grayscale effect as seen in the sky and ornamental designs.
The city seal used through the 1930s was created from an embosser as described above (below left). It includes the hilltop with a mansion, tree, the water tower, and 20 oil derricks of various sizes. The city seal used through the 1950s shows a more “industrial” Signal Hill with an oil derrick, reservoirs, and refinery (below right).
The city seal used through the 1960s evolved from its industrial roots of the first half of the 20th century to show a progressive city surrounded by freeways, an airport, a harbor, and high rise buildings (below left). The city seal from the 1970s took it a step further to show a city at the center of this progressive movement with the progress within its borders rather than surrounded by it (below right).
City Seals
January 4, 2011
In 1988 the city council adopted the city’s current seal that was designed by former council member Sara Hanlon. This seal was formally adopted by ordinance in 2008.