Los Angeles' famed Hollywood sign gets a new paint job

2022-10-12

Hollywood makeover! Los Angeles’ famed Hollywood sign gets a new paint job with workers clearing off the grime off the 45-foot structure as it nears 100-year anniversary

The Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles is receiving a makeover this month in preparation for it’s 100-year anniversary
Painters scraped grime from the iconic lettering and began the eight-week process of repainting each letter
The letters stand 50-feet high and weigh a combined 250 tons, while it also takes around 250 gallons of paint to cover the sign
Sherwin-Williams, an Ohio-based painting company, has been selected to do the honors again and has gone with an ‘extra-white’ color
‘It’s now representing not only the place of Hollywood, but it signifies the entertainment industry, and LA is the entertainment capital of the world’

The Hollywood sign is getting a deep clean and a fresh layer of white paint just in time for it’s 100-year anniversary.

After a pressure-wash and some rust removal, workers began using 250 gallons of primer and white paint to spruce up the sign ahead of its centennial next year.

The entire renovation effort is expected to take up to eight weeks, and the last time it was cleaned was a decade ago, in preparation for the 90-year anniversary.

Workers used raised platforms to scrape rust and grime from the 50-foot letters before using powerful spraying machines to coat it in a bold new layer of white paint.

The first sign, which said ‘Hollywoodland,’ was erected in 1923, according to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

‘It’s now representing not only the place of Hollywood, but it signifies the entertainment industry, and LA is the entertainment capital of the world’

The 45-foot-tall sign in the Hollywood Hills above Los Angeles is repainted every decade

The sign weighs a whopping 225 tons, as the letters are made from corrugated metal

Sherwin-Williams, an Ohio-based painting company, is painting the sign again with a special weather-resistant mix

The Chamber of Commerce owns the sign, but the Hollywood Sign Trust convers maintenance, and the city itself owns the land.

But after decades of neglect, the original sign was shortened to read ‘Hollywood’ and then was replaced altogether with a new sign in 1978.

The replacement we see today is in-part thanks to Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who held a fundraiser auctioning off the old letters to help pay for the new ones.

The hills were empty for three months until the new sign that we see today was installed.

‘It’s now representing not only the place of Hollywood, but it signifies the entertainment industry, and LA is the entertainment capital of the world,’ Jeff Zarrinnam with the Hollywood Sign Trust said Monday.

The 45-foot-tall sign in the Hollywood Hills above Los Angeles is repainted every decade.

Sherwin-Williams, an Ohio-based painting company, has been selected to do the honors again and has gone with an ‘extra-white’ color in a special weather-resistance paint.

‘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 Zarrinnam.

‘So some of these guys are up, you know, 60, 50 to 60 feet up in the air,’ he added.

The city has upped the security around the site in recent years investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into high-tech measures such as infared cameras

While the sign was first erected in 1923, it fell into disrepair and was only rehabilitated in 1978 with the help of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner

While the city of Los Angeles owns the land, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce owns the sign

While there is a perimeter fence and no paved path to the sign, some tourists and LA residents have often tried to get up close to the iconic letters.

But in recent years the city has upped the security around the site, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into high-tech measures such as infared cameras.

The lettering is sturdy and unlikely to be affected even by severe weather – each letter is attached to steel rods that extend 13-feet underground.

In all, the sign weighs a whopping 225 tons, as the letters are made from corrugated metal.

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