The Orange 76 Ball Is Gone!

One of the distinctive landmarks in Pacific Palisades’the giant orange Union 76 ball, located near the corner of Via de la Paz and Sunset’was taken down on Saturday afternoon and trucked away. ‘I was told that the ball was supposed to remain,’ ConocoPhillips station owner Robert Munakash told the Palisadian-Post on Monday. ‘It wasn’t my decision, but rather ConocoPhillips [the company].’ The Palisades resident said that although he owns the lease for the station, the corporation owns the land. Munakash acquired the station’s lease last February from Frank Jakel, who recalled that the ball was already in place when he bought the franchise in 1974. It was Munakash’s understanding that the decision to remove the iconic orange ball down was mandated by the Palisades Design Review Board, which designates a square-footage stipulation for business signs. A new sign, in tandem with the orange ball, would have exceeded the square footage allowed and would have required ConocoPhillips to obtain a variance. The new monument sign was installed on the corner last week. ‘We got it okayed,’ said Jakel, who was visiting the station on Monday. ‘It was grandfathered in. The DRB gave its okay for both the monument sign and ball.’ Rick Mills of the Palisades Design Review Board said, ‘It was grandfathered in, until Conoco made a change in the signage.’ ‘The Review Board must follow the requirement of the specific plan that prohibits roof signs, pole signs and projecting signs,’ Mills told the Post on Tuesday. He added that the Review Board didn’t oppose the sign; they enjoyed it, especially when it was draped to look like a pumpkin in October, and they knew many people in the community liked it. ‘If someone wants to vary from the specific plan, that applicant must apply for an exception to the West Area Planning Commission,’ Mills said. He didn’t think that ConocoPhillips had done that. When ConocoPhillips bought Union 76 stations three years ago, Jakel was worried that the corporation would eliminate the infamous orange ball, designed by advertising creative director Ray Pedersen for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Beginning in 1967, tens of millions were made and distributed by Union 76 over the years. Jakel originally sought a home for the ball at the Flight Path Museum at LAX. He told the Post, ‘The museum owns a 1941 model Union Oil tanker truck and the tugboat that filled it.’ But, the sign remained in the Palisades. In January 2006, fans of the orange ball were dismayed to learn that Conoco had plans to ‘destroy all balls.’ Rock critic and cultural historian Kim Cooper started a nationwide Save the 76 Ball campaign and more than 3,000 people joined her by signing a petition to oppose the balls’ destruction. A year later, ConocoPhillips agreed to donate several dozen orange Union 76 balls to select museums, and maintain a few historic and architecturally significant balls. In addition, the company announced plans to order 100 new 76 balls in CP’s signature red and declared that no private individuals would be allowed to purchase a 76 Ball. The Post called ConocoPhillips headquarters on Monday to find out the ultimate fate of the Palisadian ball, which was like a beacon to people traveling east on Sunset Boulevard that they were entering the tiny Pacific Palisades business area. Tami Walker, manager of ConocoPhillips brand’s management, spoke to the Post Tuesday morning, ‘We’re trying to track down what happened,’ she said, ‘We’re investigating this particular situation.’