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The Big Lemon is a 10-foot-long, 3,000-pound lemon sculpture in central Lemon Grove, California, built as a parade float in 1928 and preserved as a landmark. Times of San Diego reported its latest restoration in 2023.
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World's Largest Lemon
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Approximate location · 32.743° N, 117.031° W
FIELD GUIDE
The story
The Big Lemon of Lemon Grove began as a float. According to Times of San Diego in 2025, it first rolled through San Diego on 4 July 1928 in the Fiesta de San Diego parade, designed by architect Alberto O. Treganza and built by local ranchers on a modified Model T Ford chassis. It carried his daughter Amorita Treganza, the first Miss Lemon Grove, and advertised the town's slogan, "The Best Climate on Earth."
The paper reports that residents voted in 1930 to have the float plastered, mounted and preserved, first at Main Street and Broadway and later moved a short distance to its present spot beside the Lemon Grove trolley station. It measures 10 feet long and 6 feet wide and weighs around 3,000 pounds. Its most recent restoration, in 2023, was led by local artist Steven Garcia.
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PRACTICAL
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WHAT TO EXPECT
A lemon sculpture on a concrete pedestal in the middle of Lemon Grove, beside the trolley line. Times of San Diego reported in 2025 that it was restored in 2023 and is 10 feet long and 6 feet wide.
ACCESS
In the centre of Lemon Grove, California, beside the Lemon Grove trolley station on the Orange Line, according to Times of San Diego in 2025. The paper says it stands on a concrete pedestal.
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