CITY FOCUS:The queen of all media

Debbie Wallace slowly pulled off her blindfold at a bus stop in front of the Bella Terra shopping center on Friday and saw a lifelong dream staring back at her.

“Oh my God,” she said, pumping her fists in excitement. “I never thought — Yes! Yes! Yes!”

As family members looked on, Wallace, 49, a longtime Huntington Beach resident who now lives in Buena Park saw a 20-years-younger version of herself staring back at her from a billboard along with a birthday message. Thanks to her family, who arranged it as an early present for when she turns 50 in May, her dream to appear in all major forms of media — a billboard was the last — was complete.

“Ever since I can remember, she wanted this,” said daughter Mary Jane Edwards. “It’s always been her thing. People have thought it was silly but she always wanted it.”

When Wallace was a girl, a modeling school representative told her she should go into modeling, but her mother explained the classes would be very expensive.

“I always regretted not doing that,” she said. “So when I hit 30, I decided, ‘why not?’ ”

That “why not” led to an ambition: to appear at least once in every medium she could think of.

The list Wallace wrote included film, television, radio, magazines, newspapers, a fashion runway and an advertising billboard. She took classes and built a modeling portfolio — including the photo on the billboard — became an extra in movies and on television, and pushed to get herself into print.

“I knew this was going to be the hardest one,” she told her family. “What a boost it is at 50 to get this. This is the best present you could have given me.”

One medium notably absent from the list was the Internet, which was still several years from popular consciousness when she started her quest. As of this article, however, she can check that off as well.

The billboard was displayed on Edinger Avenue through Monday.