South San Francisco’s Hillside Landmarks: Concrete Letters and a Steel Wind Harp

By Matthew Martinez, Founder, CEO & Managing Broker, Diamond Real Estate Group. California DRE #01869679.

Two of South San Francisco’s most recognizable landmarks use elevated ground in very different ways. The hillside sign turns a contoured slope into readable lettering. The Wind Harp uses an exposed hilltop to make a sculpture respond to moving air.

Both also connect with the city’s industrial history. They show how a place can express its identity through public objects whose scale and materials respond to the landscape.

The sign’s letters are adjusted for the hill

The city’s Sign Hill account dates the original whitewashed lettering to 1923 and the permanent concrete version to 1929. The earlier material mixed lime, white cement and water; the later work reduced the maintenance associated with that temporary treatment.

The current letters range from 48 to 65 feet high. Their arrangement compensates for the slope so the words appear more regular when seen from a distance.

This is a form of design for a viewpoint. The letters do not need to be identical objects on the ground to create the impression of consistent text across the hill.

An industrial message became a historical marker

The municipal history explains that the sign originally advertised the community to industry. As the local economy changed, its wording became the subject of debate. The city identifies local historic recognition in 1986 and National Register listing in 1996.

That sequence gives the sign a second role. It continues to identify the city while also preserving the language of an earlier economic era.

A local landmark can therefore be useful precisely because the place around it has changed. Its older message invites a conversation about continuity, rather than requiring the present city to match every word literally.

The Wind Harp makes the hill audible

The city’s public-art record identifies the Wind Harp as a 1967 commission for the 600-acre Cabot, Cabot and Forbes Industrial Park. Artists Aristides Demetrios and Lucia Eames designed the 92-foot sculpture for a hilltop site 243 feet above sea level.

An aeolian harp is played by wind. The sculpture’s location is therefore part of how the work functions, rather than a pedestal chosen only to make it visible.

That relationship provides another way of noticing the Peninsula landscape. Air movement can be part of a place’s identity as strongly as its outline, vegetation or views.

The steel surface belongs to the material choice

The city identifies the sculpture’s material as Mayari R weathering carbon steel made by Bethlehem Steel. Its surface develops a protective oxide layer.

Material selection and appearance work together here. The color and texture are part of the object’s intended relationship with exposure, rather than evidence that an outdoor sculpture was meant to retain a bright polished finish.

The city records acquisition in 1996 and rededication in March 1997. Its December 2025 Parks and Recreation newsletter continued to feature the work as a symbol of local identity.

Two ways of reading the same city

The sign organizes a visual message across uneven ground. The harp gives physical form to changing wind. One is encountered as words against a slope; the other as a tall object whose setting affects its sound.

Together they add specificity to South San Francisco’s public landscape. They also show why a neighborhood’s character is easier to understand through actual places than through broad descriptions of the Peninsula.

Explore real estate and home for sale in South San Francisco, or contact Diamond to discuss homes in relation to their streets, terrain and local landmarks.

Sources checked October 28, 2026. This article describes public-art history and design; consult current city information for visiting arrangements.