A local company makes iconic signs you will likely recognize.

Celia Jiménez here, thinking about the importance of having a good image. For many brick-and-mortar businesses, that begins with an attractive sign. 

In this week’s edition of the Weekly, Editor Sara Rubin talked with Phil VanderKraats and his son Jeremy about their business, Signs By Van. 

I’m often asked about how we get story ideas. Sometimes we just bump into them. Rubin, myself and staff writer Pam Marino saw VanderKraats and Dong Sun Kim working on a mural while we were on a tour of the Promenade in Marina earlier in 2024. Their work caught Rubin’s attention, and a casual conversation later turned into a story. 

“It was so clear to me that Phil had a story to tell,” Rubin says.

In her story, Rubin doesn’t focus on the technical aspects of making signs, but “I think the big takeaway for me was how much technical skill these guys do have—it’s more practical and less art,” she says. “They have to figure out the puzzle of how to make a design concept work in a way that is functional.”

Rubin says Signs By Van is inside an old auction barn in Prunedale and it holds different treasures inside its walls. “It has a little bit of a museum feel, because it has all these old signs and vintage signs that people would recognize from around town,” Rubin says. 

If you are around Prunedale and have some time to spare, maybe you should stop and give them a visit. Rubin says the shop welcomes visitors and shows them around. “They're really proud of what they do,” she adds.