One of the world’s most famous landmarks, the 82-year-old Hollywood sign perched high above Los Angeles, is to follow Tinseltown tradition and get a facelift, officials said on Thursday.
The giant letters spelling out the word that is synonymous with movie production will undergo a little restoration and some cleaning, followed by several weeks of painting, for the first time in 10 years.
Like many inhabitants of the city they overlook, the huge white letters that stand 13,6m in height and which are 10,9m wide need occasional work done to maintain their appearance.
Two firms — Red Diamond Coatings, a manufacturer of architectural coatings, and Bay Cal Commercial Painting — are donating their time and materials to the project, which is set to start on Monday, company officials said.
Between them, the firms will remove dirt, rust and bubbling from the letters before a rust-inhibitor primer is applied along with 1 140 litres of a white, fire-resistant coating.
”The Hollywood Sign Trust is grateful to Red Diamond and Bay Cal for their generous contribution to help keep the Hollywood sign looking its best for years to come,” said Chris Baumgart, chairperson of the nine-member trust.
The Hollywood sign was first erected in 1923 and was declared a cultural historical monument in 1973.
Erected by Harry Chandler, the publisher of The Los Angeles Times, to advertise land for new homes, the sign originally had four extra letters and read ”Hollywoodland”.
The letters were only meant to be in place for a year-and-a-half, but remained, and in 1949 the local chamber of commerce decided to remove the then-decrepit sign’s last four letters, stripping the sign down to read ”Hollywood”.
Built for an initial cost of $21 000, the remaining white letters have since become an international symbol for the mystique of Hollywood and film-making. — Sapa-AFP