Residents sizzling about In-N-Out sign on Broadway

Double-Double animal-style Sonoma? Not so fast…

The surprise erecting of a banner announcing “Future Home of In-N-Out” at the site of the former Sonoma Truck & Auto Center on Broadway elicited both cheers and jeers from curious Sonoma residents wondering whether the renowned “yellow arrow” burger chain was indeed zig-zagging its way to within a shoestring-fry’s distance from the downtown business district.

Alas, In-N-Out fans, you may want to hold your horses, if not the mayo. It seems the banner was the workings of an elaborate hoax – or, at least as elaborate as printing sneaky signage can be. The City Planning Department denies any such approval of a fast-food restaurant has taken place. And Scot Hunter, spokesperson for Vesta Pacific, the company who’s mixed-use proposal for the site – aka “the Gateway Project” – is working its way through the city planning process, advises folks to ignore the sign.

“I’m sure it’s someone’s idea of a joke,” said Hunter, while on vacation in Michigan. “Or (it’s) another way of saying – let’s get this thing developed.”

By midday, city public works officials had simultaneously removed the sign from the property – and dashed the dreams of secret-menu acolytes throughout the Valley.