High on San Bruno Mountain, the South San Francisco hillside sign proclaims SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO THE INDUSTRIAL CITY in giant white concrete letters and has long served as the city’s most visible emblem. First created in 1923 and rebuilt permanently in 1929, it was carefully designed so its letters appear even across the steep slope. The sign advertised the city’s industrial ambitions when South San Francisco was known for heavy industry, including steel, cement, meat packing, shipbuilding, and wartime ship production. Later debates over altering or removing it gave way to preservation, and in 1996 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as both a landmark and a record of civic identity.