Historic road sign dividing El Sereno and South Pasadena removed

A road sign warning drivers of a two-foot adobe wall dividing Van Horne Street at the border of Los Angeles and South Pasadena was removed on Monday.

The wall was erected in the 1970s in response to an influx of traffic on the residential thoroughfare, but many El Sereno locals felt it was an attempt to separate the working-class, predominantly Latino neighborhood from the wealthy suburb on the South Pasadena side.

“As kids, we used to walk over there to go to South Pas to go swimming,” El Sereno resident Joey Hamilton told KNX News’ Craig Fiegener. “They put that barrier right there to keep us from going over there.”

Councilmember Kevin de León, whose district includes El Sereno, called the “Road Closed at So. Pasadena” sign on Van Horne a “physical and symbolic divider” between the two neighborhoods.

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“This sign, once a marker of division, will be removed today as a powerful step forward toward unity and reconnection,” he said. “As we remove this sign here today, we will also remove the feelings, the feelings of separation, the feelings that many of my residents here have felt for years.”

The wall itself is still standing.

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