Happy 95th Birthday for All to See

Amid the clutter of commercial billboards and signs for the airport on the drive down southbound Highway 101, motorists may have recently noticed a far more personal message.

A full-sized billboard at the Airport Boulevard exit proudly proclaims "Happy Birthday! Lou Poletti" next to a picture of a dapper gentleman in a spiffy hat and sunglasses.

That's San Mateo resident Lou Poletti of , a South San Francisco family business that goes back to 1956.

Lou's son Richard Poletti, who now runs the commercial real estate brokerage, said the family put up the billboard on Aug. 12 in anticipation of Lou's Aug. 18 birthday.

The family owns the billboard, which Lou, who lives in San Mateo, bought himself 45 years ago. Thanks to a lucky break between advertisers, they were able to put up a personal message for a few weeks.

"I took him to lunch in the city and drove him back that way and took off on the exit there," Richard, of Burlingame, said of showing his father the billboard. "I told him there was another deadbeat on the sign, and he looked up there and had a big smile on his face. That’s when he said, "Why didn’t you put it on both sides?'"

"When you turn 100 we’ll put it on both sides," Richard told his dad.