San Gabriel Valley : Preservation Group Wants Just Dessert

A sign on 103-115 S. Fair Oaks Ave. in Pasadena would seem to suggest that the historic 1880s building has gone on a diet.

In the 1960s, when artists used the space, a mysterious painted inscription appeared on the building’s exterior:

“ ‘My people are the people of the desert,’ said T. E. Lawrence, as he picked up his fork,’ ” a word play on the famed Lawrence of Arabia’s adventures in the sand and an after-dinner treat.

But after the Whittier earthquake in 1987, when the top part of the wall crumbled, only the second line remained to give a rather cryptic message: “said T. E. Lawrence, as he picked up his fork.”

Recently, however, a new sign has appeared, obscuring the remnant of a line with an ad for a weight-loss drink.

“It’s revolting,” said Sue Mossman, the executive director of Pasadena Heritage, which has an easement for the facade on which the sign was placed. “We wish the [building] owner had restored the 1960s sign rather than putting up a new sign.”

The Heritage group won’t sue but hopes the owner will change his mind.

No word from the building’s owner on whether he’ll give up the diet in favor of the desert.