Street Signs Get the O.C Steal of Approval

By RENEE TAWA

Sept. 24, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

FULLERTON —

“I wanna feel sunlight on my face . . . I wanna take shelter from the poison rain, where the streets have no name . . . “

U2 song, “Where the Streets Have No Name”

Here’s how to get to Harvey Jass’ house: “We just tell everyone to go down to the fourth stop sign,” says Jass, “to the street with no name.”

For the fortysomething resident, there’s no place like home on unmarked Madonna Drive, from which fans of the bad-girl singer have stolen the street signs more than 15 times in the past few years by using a blowtorch or hacksaw or by uprooting the post via chains and a car. Finally, city officials gave up and stenciled the street name on curbs.

Throughout Orange County, sign stealers shimmy up and down street poles for hip souvenirs, forcing officials to try to come up with ways to thwart the thefts of markers including Zig Zag Way (a name associated with those who like to roll their own cigarettes). Meanwhile, on the unmarked streets, motorists lose their way, delivery people give up and city officials tire of shelling out hundreds--sometimes thousands--of dollars each year for new signs.

Pity Sandra Delloyd, 43, who lives near the oft-lifted Jagger (as in Mick) Street and Dylan (as in Bob) Avenue street signs in Lake Forest. She wishes sign bandits would hunt for the names of more in vogue rock stars.

“I wouldn’t imagine there’s a Hootie & the Blowfish one. . . . ,” she said wistfully.

Police do not dismiss the thefts as the work of over-the-top rock fans. Street sign stealing, which is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, can pose serious safety hazards, said Fullerton police Sgt. Glenn Deveney.

On Madonna Lane, for instance, motorists often crane their necks to search for street signs and don’t watch the road.

“People are trained throughout the free and civilized world to look at signs eye level or higher--now they look at foot level,” Deveney said.

But police, fire and mail workers all know where Madonna Lane is--and that’s enough for most residents. Still, they’d like to have their street back, to reclaim their neighborhood identity.

“I would think by now,” said resident Elaine Socol, 58, “Madonna isn’t that popular any more. They should try to put up the street signs and see what happens.”

No way, say unconvinced Fullerton officials.

City crews tried replacing the seven signs on Madonna Lane when they started to disappear in the mid-1980s, during the singer’s “Like a Virgin” heyday.

But the signs--which cost $45 each to replace--were stolen as soon as workers put them up, said Robert Savage, the city’s maintenance director. Crews tried welding the signs on; then they tried “theft-proof” bolts. Only the painted-curb idea works, said Savage, “unless they steal the curb.”

In La Habra, city officials abandoned the curb idea in an attempt to solve Madonna problems of their own.

City crews have replaced La Habra’s Madonna Lane sign six times in the past few years, said street foreman Paul Hamilton. The last time, workers put up a “theft-proof” sign that lasted two weeks before vandals pilfered it from the cul-de-sac. City officials gave up and painted Madonna Lane on the curb, but residents complained that delivery people could not find the street.

In 1992, city crews installed a super-hardy sign on a 13-foot-high pole--four feet higher than usual, Hamilton said. The custom-made sign, attached with special rivets, could come down with a hammer and chisel if someone wanted to climb that high with such tools, he said. But the necessary whacking to remove the sign would deface it. So far, the sign remains.

Across the county, in Huntington Beach, the under-construction Surf City Store will try to beat would-be sign thieves to the pinch. The store, which opens next month, will sell used versions of the city’s most-stolen signs for $35 each, including those with female names (Gina Lane, Pammy Lane) that presumably are lifted by love-struck young men for their girlfriends.

Surf City co-owner Tina Viray thinks sticky-fingered sign lovers will be less apt to steal when the store offers the same wares for a lot less trouble. She concedes that the store-bought signs won’t have the same charm as the ill-gotten ones.

“I’m not sure that it’ll go over as well as when the guy says, ‘I climbed this pole and got this for you, and endured pain and torture and risk of [arrest].’ ”

Memento thieves in Newport Beach endure the trying task of undoing special brackets to remove street signs, said George Millikin, supervisor of the city’s sign shop. In Newport Beach, the Balboa Boulevard signs fall into the hands of miscreants--presumably tourists who like the sign’s boat pennant shape--about nine times a year, costing the city at least $4,000 annually.

“The kids think it’s great to go back to Montana with a Balboa Boulevard sign,” Millikin said. “From a city standpoint, it would be much cheaper to give the signs away.”

There are some signs you can’t give away.

No one steals the Prince Drive sign in Huntington Beach, for instance, in homage to the artist formerly known as such.

No one has touched the Greenacres sign in Mission Viejo.

“No, I’m sorry,” said city transportation engineer Shirley Land. “I think that predates most kids. Either you’re dating yourself or you watch a lot of reruns.”

And, maybe, some day, no one--not Dennis Rodman, not Warren Beatty, not fans--will want Madonna.

“Wait it out a little while,” advised Savage, Fullerton’s maintenance director. “If her popularity contines to dwindle, we may replace [the signs] and see how it goes.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Signs of the Times

As if bankruptcy and crime were not enough, officials throughout Orange County also have to find a way to stem the tide of street sign theft, the county’s latest underground trend. Some of the hottest targets:

MADONNA DRIVE, Fullerton

Theft suspects: Fans of the Material Girl

When stolen: As soon as it’s replaced; 15-20 times in past four years

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PACIFIC COAST HWY, Huntington Beach

Theft suspects: Surfing and beach crowd

When stolen: A couple of times per year

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ZIG ZAG WAY, Tustin( unincorporated)

Theft suspects: Fans of the cigarette wrapping paper

When stolen: A couple times per year

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