The famous Hollywood sign is a landmark that everybody must have seen at least once in their lives in movies, video games or TV shows, even without visiting the U.S.
Overlooking Los Angeles, the iconic sign is getting a facelift just ahead of its 100th anniversary, with each of the massive letters receiving a new coat of paint. The nine-letter sign atop Mount Lee was last painted 10 years ago and needs redoing roughly every decade.
The current set of letters is actually the third sign erected atop Mount Lee over the years. The first sign, which said "Hollywoodland," was erected in 1923, according to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which helps administer the site along with the city of Los Angeles and the Hollywood Sign Trust as a giant billboard. The site was planned to feature four distinct architectural styles that include luxury mansions. Yet, after the estates in the neighborhood were destroyed, there were no need for the iconic sign to have "land" portion and it was removed in 1949.
However, the neighborhood remained as a preference of many superstar atop the hillls, away from the public and the sign, which was intented to be removed after a year, became the most famous landmark after the American cinema boomed.
The sign is also the largest one of its kind.
"People don't realize that, you know, when you're standing at the sign, each letter is 45 feet high, the length of each letter. But they're actually also about 10 to 15 feet off the ground,” said Jeff Zarrinnam, chair of the Hollywood Sign Trust. "So some of these guys are up, you know, 60, 50 to 60 feet up in the air.”
The job will use around 400 gallons (1,510 liters) of paint and special rust-prohibitive primer.
The landmark was destroyed twice in real live while it was torn into pieces many times in the apocalyptic movies as the giant waves hit the letters or the Mount Lee cracked due to catastrophic earthquakes. Yet it remained to preserve its place in the memories of generations over a decade.
