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MONROVIA, Calif. () — A lot of honking, whistling and maybe a wave or two out a car window are typical sights and sounds at 8 a.m. every weekday on the corner of Huntington Drive and Myrtle Avenue.
But the excessive honking isn’t because of other people’s driving. It’s a show of positivity.
“The message that I put on a sign is a message I need to hear,” John Shaw said. “It’s usually something that maybe I’ve thought about all my life and go, ‘Oh, wait a minute, yeah I should love my neighbor, shouldn’t I?”.
Shaw is from Culver City and has lived in Monrovia for 7 years.
He is known to locals as “the guy with a sign.” Shaw was inspired after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 to spread a little more love and kindness, so he started a sign-waiving campaign.
He first began that May, paused after a year, started again, paused for another year, and then restarted this February. He shows up every weekday morning for about an hour.
He said he’s made nearly 100 signs in total. They are all are mostly positive messages, and he ventures into issues he thinks are important, which has caught the attention of his neighbors.
“I thought it was a little different, but now you know, I see him when I walk by,” Monrovia resident Tracy Wilson said. “I just think it’s great and you know, he enjoys it. We all enjoy it. The people passing by beep a little toot.”
The variety of handmade signs are creative and colorfully painted. Shaw most recently drawing a “RIP Blondie save the cubs” sign to honor Blondie the bear, a Monrovia mama bear recently euthanized.
His sign on Thursday that read “Love your neighbor” hit close to home for some.
“I think of the things that would really uplift the mental well-being of our community is being close to our neighbors, getting to know them and to seeing them more often,” Alisha Poudel said.
Shaw has turned a street corner into a daily dose of humor, positivity and human connection.
“I’m out here, instead of counting likes on social media, I’m counting honks and waves and how many people put peace signs through the sunroof,” Shaw said.
He has written heartfelt messages like “broken crayons still color,” which has had positive interactions with people stopping to share deeply personal stories, moments of grief, and gratitude.
He talked about how one woman pulled over, parked her car, and cried after seeing that message.
His “tongue-in-cheek” approach is rooted in one simple goal: to make people smile.
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