Before any smartphones with satellite-based navigation, billboards featuring Hap-Pea and Pea-Wee have guided travelers into Buellton for decades.

But those relics of Pea Soup Andersen’s are about to fade away after decades of tipping travelers about how many more miles they had to wait to reach Buellton, “Home of Split Pea Soup.”

On Monday night, the Buellton City Council considered two items focused on the final pair of billboards, one south of the community and the other near its northern border. 

Both show signs of age and needing repairs two years after the closure of the Pea Soup Andersen’s restaurant. The business shuttered a few months before its 100th anniversary in Buellton. 

Officials recognize the billboard removal and the loss of nostalgia will be lamented by fans of “Pea Soupers.”

“I know they’re iconic, and I know everybody loved Hap-Pea and Pea-Wee, but it’s no longer here so it’s just time to put a new face on Buellton,” said Kathy Vreeland, executive director of the Buellton Chamber of Commerce.

Two other Pea Soup Andersen’s billboards have already been changed. One near Nipomo now promotes another Guggia Enterprises eatery, Pappy’s 101 Diner. Another one 8 miles north of Highway 154 brags about Buellton. 

New Look for Northbound Billboard

South of Buellton, a billboard with Hap-Pea and Pea-Wee informs northbound Highway 101 motorists that Buellton is 3 miles away.

The Chamber of Commerce owns the billboard and sought the city’s help to repair and reface the sign to match another one north of Highway 154. 

The price of work is estimated at between $30,000 and $40,000 and the organization asked the city to cover half of the cost.  

“From the standpoint of a city expenditure this is something that falls in line with our economic development efforts,” City Manager Scott Wolfe said at Monday’s meeting. 

The Chamber of Commerce also conducts Visitor Bureau activities.

“Highlighting the city and encouraging vehicular traffic to enter in the city of Buellton is part of our economic development strategy,” Wolfe said.  

The Chamber previously partnered with Pea Soup Andersen’s for various expenses related to the billboard, Vreeland said.

“We’d love to keep the sign and continue to have a Buellton message,” Vreeland said. She said plans call for upgrading the billboard’s now rotting wood structure before adding the vinyl message.

Councilman John Sanchez said the city should fund the entire repair project, but his motion failed to get support from his colleagues. 

“I think it’s a big deal to have a beautiful sign on the freeway. It’s worth every penny,” Sanchez said. 

“It’s kind of a landmark and it’s kind of a historical thing too. And it’s a big value to the city,” he added.

The council voted 4-0 to authorize paying up to half of the repair price, not to exceed $20,000, for the updated structure. Councilmember Elysia Lewis was absent. 

Southbound Billboard Fate Uncertain

Near Buellton’s northern edge, another billboard once featuring Hap-Pea and Pea-Wee sits in a state of disrepair as the landlord debates its fate and responsibility for the sign remains murky.

One solution would see Visit the Santa Ynez Valley take it over. Santa Barbara County, along with the city of Buellton, have banned new billboards making the existing ones more valuable, said Shelby Sim, president and chief executive officer of Visit SYV.

Their goal is similar to the Chamber of Commerce effort for other billboards, Sim said. 

“We would just expand it out to the Santa Ynez Valley so it would still benefit Buellton but then also the other communities as well,” Sim said. “More of a reason to pull over, more of a reason to stop.”

He said any design of their billboard would note Buellton “next three exits.”

“I know this is a long shot. Again, I just don’t want to lose something that’s there and it’s my job to fill your hotels,” Sim added. 

Depending on new use, Buellton and Caltrans may need to make bureaucratic changes to the Municipal Code and permits. 

The council agreed to appoint an ad hoc committee, with councilmembers Sanchez and Carla Mead, to meet with various interested parties to ensure all sides agree with the proposed path forward.

“My feeling about this is that the sign cannot continue to look the way that it does. I think it’s really poor representation of Buellton and the incredible valley that we live in,” Mead said.