Sign Nostalgia
Let’s revisit something I wrote in December of 1999:

One of those questions that often enters my brain as I am sitting in traffic has finally been answered: just how much does it cost to rent a billboard on 101 in Silicon Valley? Apparently ten times more than it did five years ago. Prime spots are going for $100,000 a month, according to an article in the Mercury News [the article is no longer available online]. And if you want one, you’d better plan ahead. There’s a waiting list. Or perhaps you’d prefer a sign on a barge floating in the bay by the Stick (yes, I know it’s actually called 3Com Park; what an expensive billboard that was!). Those open at $35,000 for two weeks. Nice to know that my eyeballs have such expensive taste.

Three years later, the billboard landscape looks much different. Billboard advertising salespeople are waxing nostalgic over the days when they could make one or two phone calls and spend the rest of the day with their 18 holes. Prices are at $20,000 and $40,000 per month, down by at least half. And there are blank billboards, sitting and waiting. Billboard ads are less about the dotcoms and more about movies, clothing, IKEA, and pharmaceuticals. There are still tech companies in the mix, but the arrival of a new month no longer brings the same expectation I used to feel as I thought “what will they do next?” I still miss the green topiary vines which spelled out garden.com.