Answer Man Gets Lucky On Seven Corners Sign Quest

As a child growing up in Falls Church in the '50s and '60s, I remember the Seven Corners Shopping Center in its heyday. I seem to remember a large number 7 at the far end of the parking lot (near Garfinckel's) that served as not only a sign for the shopping center but also as a weather indicator for all who drove by. I have asked many of my friends if they remember this, but nobody does. Did I dream this up?

-- Libby Kephart, Falls Church

"Tell Libby that she's not dreaming," wrote Tom Egly of Alexandria, just one of dozens of readers who responded to Answer Man's call for help last week.

"Libby does not suffer with false memory syndrome," wrote Janet Daeger Walden, reference librarian in the local history room of the Mary Riley Styles Public Library in Falls Church.

"FINALLY!!!!" chimed in Anne J. Dubrow. "I've been wondering about that sign at Seven Corners for years. Most inquiries are met with blank stares."

The first car drove under that magical sign Oct. 4, 1956, the day of the shopping center's grand opening. The sign consisted of an 80-foot-tall vertical section that read "7 CORNERS" and a horizontal arch reading "SHOPPING CENTER." The 11-foot-tall "7" forecast the weather. An anonymous reader wrote Answer Man with a jingle from those days:

When Number 7 is shining red, nasty weather is ahead.

When Number 7 is shining green, fair weather is foreseen.

When Number 7 is shining white, cloudy weather is in sight.

A vertical row of lights flashed upward when the temperature was increasing and downward when the mercury was falling. As if this weren't enough, there was also a three-foot-high digital clock.