South Bay Plaza sign
The sign of the South Bay Plaza shopping center in National City, California uses letterforms based on Company. The futuristic semi-slab face with Art Nouveau overtones was designed by Martin Wait and released by Letraset in 1978. It’s here used in all caps, with its alternate H and Y. Chances are that the sign dates back to the late 1970s or 1980s, as Company wasn’t widely available after the demise of rub-down type. Wait himself made a digital revival in 2012, shortly before his death.
Opened in 1954, South Bay Plaza was the second shopping center in the county, following the smaller Linda Vista center that opened in 1943 [Schoenherr]. On Flickr, Heather David has shared a photo of the original identification tower from the 1950s, featuring the typical mid-century combination of a (custom) script and a wide grotesque.
