Neon Majorette

This neon sign is part of a shopping center at the corner of College Ave and El Cajon Blvd.  It is a replica, not the original, which is now at another shopping center to the south of this location.  However, this replica resides at the location of the former Campus Drive-In Theatre.

The Campus Drive-In Theatre was built in 1948. It had a capacity for 900 cars. 
One of the most memorable features of this drive-in was the 46 foot high drum majorette outlined in neon lights that twirled a baton.
She was originally built in 1947 for the Campus Drive-In Theater, the largest drive-in theater on the West Coast at that time. The sign was affixed against a mural on the back of the movie screen, which depicted the San Diego State University bell tower quadrangle, football goalposts, and background mountains, one with a white "S" on it. 
The Campus drive-in was located at the corner of El Cajon Boulevard and College Avenue. 
Austin Linn Gray and Joe Schmidt, two San Diegans, are credited with the design of the Majorette. It is believed that Gray used as a model for the sign a photograph of Marion Caster Heatherly Baker, a top California drum majorette in the 1940's and head drum majorette at San Diego High School, class of 1943, at San Diego State College, the Naval Training Center, and later the Los Angeles Rams. 
The Majorette has achieved national notoriety, and has been featured in Life and Time magazines, as well as various calendars and books. 
In 1983, the Campus Drive-In was demolished, for development of a new shopping center. 
At that time, the Majorette was donated to Save Our Neon Organisation, which packed the sign in a crate and stored it in a downtown warehouse. In 1985 the sign was restored and installed at the newly renovated Marketplace at the Grove.
 It was placed at the Mann Theater at College Grove, where it stayed until 1998, when the shopping center was again renovated as College Grove Center.