Laguna's Gate

I was in Laguna Beach for the Festival of Arts this weekend and noticed this gate-shaped sign, hanging high above the intersection of Park Avenue, Forest Avenue, and S. Coast Highway. It reads,

"This gate hangs well, and hinders none. Refresh and rest, then travel on."

Naturally, I had to research the story behind it. The short version is that there was once a combination drug store and ice cream/refreshments shop near that site which put that gate there. But of course there's a longer version of the story too...

In her book, Images of America: Laguna Beach, Claire Marie Vogel writes,

"In 1915, Carl Hofer opened [his store] on Forest Avenue. As a prize to the person who could suggest an adequate name for the store, he offered a leather pillow. A little girl stopped in and proposed to name it "The Gate," because her father had seen a pub in England with a gate sign that had poetry written on it. The girl won the pillow, and the now-historic hanging gate was made."

It seems unlikely that a little girl would remember the name of a bar. Presumably, her father was there, coaching her and offering his memory of the English pub's sign. . Many pubs throughout England, and later in America, had similar signs. In the July 1800 edition of The Gentleman's Magazine, published in London, the following appeared:

"In traveling through an inland county this summer, I remember to have seen... a small public-house, adjoining to the road. A gate was suspended aloft to a post, for a sign; and underneath was written this... 'This gate hangs well, and hinders none, who chuse to drink, and so pass on.'"

The gate-shaped sign and its poem were pervasive. An 1819 edition of The Gentleman's Magazine (which certainly seemed to take great interest in pub-lore), featured an essay entitled, "Remarks on the Signs of Inns, etc.," which included the following:

"...A little gate itself is a common sign at small public houses by the road side, and on it is generally written, 'This gate hangs well, and hinders none, Refresh, and pay; And travel on.'"

Note the more mercenary tone of the second line. There were variations on the poem, but this "pay and travel on" version was the most popular. . 

 300 block of S. Coast Highway, circa 1920s. Photo by Ed Cochems courtesy UCI Library.

In short, this kind of sign was very common. Unless someone has access to Laguna Beach newspapers from 1915, we may never know which English pub inspired Laguna's gate. 

In a 1996 Coast Magazine article, historian Jim Sleeper noted that while Hofer did indeed first display the sign/gate in Laguna Beach in 1915, he initially did so up the street a bit from it's current spot. 

S. Coast Highway at Forest Ave. (gate visible), Fall 1921 (Photo by Ernest F. Caldwell)

"It was located up Forest Avenue at Carl E. Hofer's confectionery," Jim wrote. "A year or two later, Hofer acquired the Forest and Park corner and installed the gate, but his stay was brief. he sold to Warren & Warren, who removed the gate, when they occupied the site as a drug store. In 1921 the Warrens sold to D. L. Rankin, who resurrected the gate and Hofer's old 'Soda Pop and Cigars' banner."

There are claims that the current iteration of the gate dates to 1935, although it's likely -- considering what damp salt air does to wood -- that some, if not all of the gate has been replaced over the years.

The gate in the 1930s.