Los Angeles Unveils Hollywood Sign Face-Lift
Face-lifts aren't only for the movie stars in Los Angeles. The Hollywood sign showed off its new paint Tuesday after an extensive nine-week makeover. Each of the nine 45-foot tall letters were stripped of the old paint before being primed and coated with two new white layers.
When the project first started, officials expected to use 275 gallons of paint and 110 gallons of primer to clean up the sign. The sassy white letters were erected in 1923 to help boost high-end real estate development.
The first makeover took place in 1949 when the letters that then read "Hollywoodland" were changed to just "Hollywood."
The city of Los Angeles is the owner of this cultural and historic landmark. Funding was provided by Sherwin-Williams and the Hollywood Trust.
The Sherwin-Williams Emerald Exterior Paint and products used for the sign's most intensive refurbishment in nearly 35 years will help the sign stay crisp white, even throughout rain and wind storms. To make sure the makeover lasts, the coatings were removed from the letters almost entirely by hand.
The Hollywood Sign Trust is reposbsible for repairing, maintaining, refurbishing, and providing capital imrpovements to the Hollywood sign.
In the 1970s, the "O" letter tumbled away from the rest of the white letters and an "L" was set ablaze, according to the Hollywood Sign Trust. Hugh Hefner, Alice Cooper, Gene Autry and others helped raise money to completely rebuild the sign. The last time the sign was repainted in 2005, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa "rappelled down the hillside and applied the final strokes of coating himself," according to the trust's website.
