1974 - Review of Submissions for a New City Seal
1974
Floran Frank, chair of the City Seal Committee, inspects submissions from the public for a new Burbank city seal. The call for a new seal first went out in 1973, when the city council created a committee to consider revisions “that reflect a more modern version of Burbank,” according to a May 13, 1973, story in the Los Angeles Times. The existing seal, which had been adopted in 1946, depicted the ascending silhouette of an airplane in the foreground, a factory with smokestacks in the background, and a film reel at the bottom encircled by the word “PROGRESS.” Mayor Byron E. Cook, quoted by the Times in 1974, described the existing seal as “environmentally uncouth,” and in January 1974 the City Seal Committee began soliciting public suggestions for a new design. A final decision was announced in November 1977, when the current seal, depicting an airplane, City Hall, a klieg light inside a frame of film, and the sun rising behind the Verdugo Mountains, was unveiled and approved by the city council. Prior to the 1946 design, there had been two other incarnations of the city seal: The first, from the city’s incorporation in 1911 until 1931, featured the image of a cantaloupe, a prominent crop in the area at the time; and the second, used from 1931 to 1946, showed an airplane flying over a street grid at the foot of the Verdugos with the sun rising behind the mountains. Notes on back of photo: “Aug-Sept 1974 City Seal Contest. ‘Inside the City Contest for New Seal.’ Floran Frank, Chair, City Seal Committee.”
Burbank, CA
3½ x 3½ b&w photo
Burbank Public Library, Burbank in Focus Office
cco01374
City Clerk's Office
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