This is an example of one of the new signs that will be installed in downtown Vallejo to direct residents, and also provide historic facts. (Courtesy photo)

Vallejo has a rich past and new directional signs will combine a bit of history while also pointing the way to downtown points of interest, sign promoters said.

The Central Core Restoration Corporation finally won city approval for new way-finding signs after nearly five years of delays.

They will be installed in the next few months and will direct people as well as highlight Vallejo history.

The city of Vallejo’s Beautification and Design Review Board unanimously approved them Thursday.

CCRC Executive Coordinator Erin Bakke said the signs are beneficial for the downtown. “Having way-finding signs is huge, especially after they’ve been held up so many times,” she said.

The blue and white signs will feature the city’s logo, historical photos along with a short description, plus arrows pointing to the Vallejo Ferry building, Empress Theatre, Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, Civic Center and parking.

Commissioner Sarah Nichols called the signs a “great project” and added “I appreciate the amount of care that went in it.”

Others said they liked the blue and white colors which allude to Vallejo’s waterfront. The signs also say Vallejo is the “only city in the US built for a state capitol.”

The first six signs will be installed on Mare Island Way, and Georgia Street.”

They will feature the following –

* General Mariano Vallejo, who founded the city in 1851

* Vallejo Electric Railroad Line which took passengers from Vallejo to Calistoga,

* Saginaw, the first of more than 500 ships built at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

* Lower Georgia Street, once a colorful settlement of bars and gambling houses.

* California State Capitol in Vallejo during 1852-1853.

* Sunol Ferry which took passengers from Vallejo to San Francisco from 1890 to 1913.

Eleven more signs are proposed in the project’s second and third phase.

The CCRC, a downtown organization funded with tax assessments on local property owners, first went to the city with sign proposals in the spring of 2009.

The CCRC actually got city approval for signs in late 2011, but the organization decided to revise the designs.

CCRC board president and Vallejo property owner Buck Kamphausen said he was the chief designer for the new signs and he’s gotten help from local historians.

While the signs contain a lot of information, Kamphausen said people will be able to see them clearly as they walk or drive by. They are meant for both the newcomer and local residents, he said.

“This is part of our history and this puts it out there for newcomers and all of us,” Kamphausen said, adding that many Vallejoans don’t know much about the city’s past.

“It’s much more than just a way-finding sign,” Kamphausen said.

CCRC designed the signs and also will pay to have them installed, Kamphausen said. The signs will be made by Barber Signs in Vallejo, and will likely be installed by Kamphausen’s Skyview Memorial Lawn crews.

The organization is also working with Caltrans to get signs installed on Sonoma Boulevard which is also the state-owned Highway 29.

Times-Herald staff writer Jessica A. York contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Sarah Rohrs at srohrs@timesheraldonline.com or (707) 553-6832.

Christina Barrett of Richmond, left, and Dave Pearce of Vallejo fill out raffle tickets at the Hub in downtown Vallejo, as the Darrell Edwards Heavy Weather Band plays in the background at Saturday’s grand opening celebration. (Mike Jory/Times-Herald)

There was music, sculptures and even a room full of glow-in-the-dark shirts and jewelry.

But what organizers of the downtown Hub’s grand opening Saturday want to showcase most isn’t art — it’s Vallejo itself.

“We are at the beginning of a Renaissance,” Hub volunteer Chris Vardijan said Saturday afternoon before introducing the Darrel Edwards Heavy Weather Band to the audience.

The Hub at 350 Georgia St., envisioned as part art gallery, part community workspace, has had a “soft opening” of sorts for the last few months. Already, open mic and poetry nights have been established, as well as a monthly art walk expected to continue March 14.

But Saturday marked the Hub’s official declaration that it is open for business.

“It’s been a great day. I like talking to people that live here about all the changes (in downtown),” said Jean Cherie, a sculptor whose work was featured in the Hub on Saturday.

Cherie is also a resident of the nearby Temple Arts Lofts on Virginia Street, a nearly century-old building that had once been a Masonic Temple and is now affordable housing targeted at artists.

Cherie, formerly of Benicia, had chanced upon the Temple Arts Lofts when she parked near it during a trip to the Farmers Market.

Since moving in, she has become quite involved in the local art scene, helping fill the Temple Arts Lofts windows with art. Saturday marked the first time a passerby has bought one of the pieces from the window exhibit.

“We weren’t expecting to sell anything at the windows,” Cherie said.

The Hub’s windows are also full of various pieces of artwork, some for sale.

Visitors to the Hub will see a large, open space with couches facing and paintings and sculptures placed around the perimeter.

“This is only 10 percent of the plan,” Vardijan said.

Much of the building remains beyond the public eye, with future plans for a silk screening room, a poster and sticker printing room and acoustically-sound music rehearsal plans in the work.

“This is all because of the goodwill of the people,” Vardijan said.

The Hub is regularly open from noon to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m.

Sunday.

For details, visit www.thehubvallejo.com.Contact Lanz Christian Bañes at (707) 553-6833 or lbanes@timesheraldonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @LanzCBanes.