On a household street journey this summer season throughout a number of western states, my children stored monitor of the license plates we noticed in a quest to seek out one from every state. They noticed chili peppers on New Mexico plates, sandstone arches on Utah’s and the silhouette of the Rocky Mountains on Colorado’s.
It began off as a manner to deal with the good American custom of backseat boredom. However the imagery wound up spurring conversations about nationwide icons. Why is there an orange on the Florida plate? What’s that mountain on the South Dakota plate? Hey, have a look at that cool cactus they’ve in Arizona.
Because the listing hit about 30, it grew to become apparent that our residence state of California will need to have probably the most uninspired license plate in America. Only a plain white background with blue letters and numbers, and a crimson “California” scrawled throughout the highest in an unsightly cursive font. As if that’s not dangerous sufficient, the decrease portion of the plate says “dmv.ca.gov,” which is likely to be probably the most boring mixture of letters ever written.
Examine that with the poetry emblazoned throughout the underside of different plates: “Virginia is for lovers.” “Residence means Nevada.” Or my favourite, noticed on a plate from Quebec: “Je me souviens,” French for “I bear in mind.”
A DMV spokesperson advised me the online handle was placed on the California plate “to encourage folks to go to it” earlier than going to an workplace. As for the plain white background and blue letters, the DMV mentioned that’s designed to make it simpler for police to see.
California license plates weren’t at all times so drab. Early variations evoked the Golden State with a gold background, and later, gold lettering on a black, after which blue background. When California switched to the white background within the Eighties, the design integrated our golden sunsets with that artwork deco yellow solar. However the state discontinued the solar design in 1987, and since then the plate has solely been barely modified, with some adjustments to the fonts and the addition of that horrid url.
It’s time for an replace. California has a lot to brag about. Ocean. Mountains. Sunshine. Earth’s greatest timber. A throughline of entrepreneurship and creativity that’s formed the human expertise from the gold rush to Hollywood and Silicon Valley. We must always not have such a boring plate.
In fact, state residents will pay additional for a specialty plate that options icons like Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, photographs by California artists Wayne Thiebaud and Charles M. Schulz, and even the basic Sixties-style black-and-gold design. The charges help designated charities and permit Californians to point out off what they love concerning the state. That’s advantageous, however these make up lower than 4% of the hundreds of thousands of license plates the state points. The vast majority of California drivers who get the fundamental plate must also sport one thing that higher represents this spectacular place.
It’s true that we’re a various, advanced state that can not be boiled all the way down to a single image. California is so many issues without delay, and that vibrancy is on the core of our identification and our energy. However what I spotted in watching my youngsters reply to the iconography rolling alongside the interstates is that every license plate isn’t only a software to establish a automobile. It’s a little bit ambassador, a mirrored image of how one state desires others to see it. California has a lot type. Our license plates ought to too.
What design would you wish to see on California’s license plate? Ship your strategies to letters@latimes.com
