A Car Nearly Destroyed Simi’s Hillside Sign and Landmark — What Happened Next Will Make You Proud

Simi Valley’s Hillside Sign Stands Firm Again — Rotary Team Rebuilds Santa Susana Gateway Landmark

(CLAIR | Simi Valley, CA) — Nobody knows who built it. The city has no record. Some guess it was a Boy Scout project. What is known is that the Simi Valley sign above Santa Susana Pass Road has stood on that hillside since at least the early 1970s — more than 50 years of greeting every driver entering the valley. Then two years ago, a car hit it. The base cracked. The sign began to lean. And by last fall, it was 14 inches from falling onto a bike trail that runs directly behind it.

That trail connects Corriganville Park to the hillside just feet from the base. Hikers and cyclists pass through there every day — most of them with no idea how close the structure was to collapsing and coming down. But Leigh Seaton of Simi Sunrise Rotary and his wife Karen Seaton knew. They had been watching the sign for months. Leigh cut branches and stacked them behind the sign to keep people away from the leaning edge. At night, Leigh says, he would wake up thinking about it.

Before leaving on a trip to South Africa, Leigh measured the lean at 12 inches. When he returned three weeks later, it had grown to 14. The sign was moving faster. Rain was in the forecast. The soil on the hillside was already soft. He stopped waiting and started calling.

Within 20 minutes of his first call, a tow truck sent by Roy Conn of Roy’s Towing Company was on its way. Conn donated the truck and the driver — a man named Jimmy — who used the rig to pull the sign back upright while Leigh and Karen worked around the base. Troy Cox of TROYCO (Troy Construction) donated the concrete mix, including a special additive to help it cure through the rain. When the pour was done, the driver said it had taken close to four yards to fill. The sign was not going anywhere.

The Simi Valley city manager’s office had approved the project weeks earlier. The property owner, who had long allowed the city to care for the site, raised no objection. Neighbors, businesses, and community members had been quietly watching the sign tilt for two years. Now they were doing something about it.

As the concrete began to set, two of the Seaton’s grandsons — Logan and Bennett — arrived after school. They rolled up their sleeves and helped finish the work. When it was time, they pressed their handprints into the fresh concrete and wrote their names. Those marks are still there. Bob Whelan, a longtime community supporter and friend who missed the pour, asked to be included. Bob’s name was added too.

Unfortunately, the work didn’t end with securing the foundation. The construction activity had attracted illegal dumping from the San Fernando Valley. Contractors and passersby had left drywall scraps, trash bags, and loose debris scattered across the hillside. Joel Harriott of Waste Management stepped in and donated a full dumpster — delivery, pickup, and service all at no charge. Leigh, along with Simi Sunrise Rotary members Blake Terry, Matt Rowe, and Bob Whelan spent about three hours clearing the slope. They filled the dumpster and left the Simi hillside clean.

After the debris was gone, Leigh and Karen spread fresh dirt around the base to restore the natural look of the site. Then Simi School Board Member, Stephen Pietrolungo (Dr. P) — known for donating plants to community projects — brought in drought-resistant cacti and hardy hillside species. The three planted them together, arranging native rocks from the dig to frame the beds. The recent rains have been doing the watering since.

Even the small moments carried meaning. A painter broke down near the site during the project — his keys locked in his van. Leigh used his tools to get the man back on the road. Before leaving, the painter looked at the sign and offered to come back and give it a fresh coat of paint.

The sign now stands straight and solid above Santa Susana Pass. It marks the same gateway it has marked for half a century. But now it rests on a foundation built by neighbors who refused to walk past a problem. It carries the handprints of two boys who showed up after school because someone asked them to help. It was saved by a tow truck driver, a concrete company, a waste hauler, a school board trustee with extra plants, and a Rotary member who couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Every driver entering Simi Valley sees it now — clean, straight, and standing firm.

That’s what this community looks like when it shows up for itself.