Visual Materials

"Approach" views of billboards - San Diego

Description: Street-level views of various billboards at a distance, as seen on "approach" by a driver. These scenes show billboards in city settings along major streets and freeways, and often include automobiles and businesses.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1960s-1980s
Call number: Subseries B
Provenance: Purchased from Dawson's Bookshop, 2009.
Restrictions: RESTRICTED: Collection is housed in cold storage; extended retrieval and delivery time required.
Find out more: View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab)

"Approach" views of billboards - Los Angeles

Visual Materials

Street-level views of various billboards at a distance, as seen on "approach" by a driver. These scenes show billboards in city settings along major streets and freeways, and often include automobiles and businesses.

Subseries A

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"Approach" views of billboards

Visual Materials

This series contains black-and-white negatives (some with accompanying prints) documenting street and highway locations of client billboards in the Los Angeles region and, to a lesser extent, San Diego, 1960s to 1980s. Pacific Outdoor Advertising and Gannett Outdoor Co. used the terminology "Approach" (abbreviated APPR on negative envelopes) to describe the street-level view of a billboard as seen on "approach" by a driver. The companies often shot sequences of 2-5 images to capture various distance sight lines of an approaching billboard. This is the only collection series that notes specific intersections and major thoroughfares, freeways, and streets along which billboards appear. Locations as indicated on negative envelopes have been transcribed below only for boxes 89-90.

Series 2

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"Approach" views of billboards - San Diego: Misc

Visual Materials

This collection consists of photographs of billboards located in situ primarily in and around Los Angeles and, to a lesser extent, San Diego, from approximately 1930-1996 (bulk 1950-1989). The photographs, which are principally color slides (35mm) and film negatives (both black-and-white and color), were created by Pacific Outdoor Advertising Company (POA) and Gannett Outdoor Company for internal purposes and represent advertising for a wide variety of businesses, consumer products, and services, including beverages (many for beer and liquor); food; cigarettes and tobacco; transportation (especially automobiles, airlines and bus lines); hotels; restaurants; motion pictures; charitable and non-profit organizations, including regional cities and civic campaigns; political candidates for local and state elections; public service announcements (such as air raid and Cold War-related ads); radio and television stations; oil and gasoline companies; cemeteries; clothing companies; department stores; recreational facilities; and other commercial, political, civic, and institutional clients. In addition, there are images related primarily to Pacific Outdoor Advertising (POA) Company operations such as client presentations, billboard production and installation, corporate facilities and the POA helicopter. Aerial views taken throughout Southern California document the various markets in which the company placed signage.

photCL 488

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Gannett Outdoor: Client Billboards, A - T

Visual Materials

Also includes "Approach" views, political billboards, motion pictures, and operational photographs.

photCL 488

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Client billboards

Visual Materials

This series contains photographs of client billboards created by Pacific Outdoor Advertising Company primarily in the Los Angeles region (and to a lesser extent San Diego) between 1930 and 1979, and by Gannett Outdoor Co. 1980 through 1996. While most of the billboards are photographed in situ, location information – such as specific cities and streets – is rarely noted. For images containing billboards with street information, see Series 2: "Approach" views.

Series 1

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Client Billboards - San Diego: B - Z

Visual Materials

Billboards in San Diego, 1960s-1970s, for various clients. Arranged alphabetically by client name, beginning with "B." No items were received for "A."

photCL 488

"Approach" views of billboards - San Diego

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