Trutanich - Ban Billboard Blight

Ban on New Supergraphic Signs in Hollywood Contains Huge Exemption, Includes Signs That Would Cover Apartment Windows

View of supergraphic sign on Metropolitan Hotel apartment project above Hollywood freeway. Sign simulation by Skytag, Inc.

L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti’s proposal to ban new supergraphic signs in the Hollywood sign district would exempt a total of 31,000 sq. ft. of the signage that has won some form of city approval, but hasn’t been issued permits by the city building department. Included is a 5,700 sq. ft. sign that would cover many of the windows on a 12-story apartment building clearly visible from the nearby Hollywood freeway.

This post was written by dennis on July 14, 2010

Pimps and Prostitutes: Billboard Companies Using Non-Profits to Help Kill Unfavorable Legislation

Public service ad on CBS Outdoor billboard. The sign on the opposite side advertises McDonald's "Angus Third Pounder"

When a bill to put a little bite into California’s toothless billboard regulations came before the State Senate last week, the usual suspects—big billboard companies, chambers of commerce, construction interests—lined up to oppose it. But also signing on to help kill the bill were such organizations as the National Council of Jewish Women, the Minorities in Broadcasting Training Program, and the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association.

Read More…

Posted under Billboards, CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel, Trutanich

This post was written by dennis on June 11, 2010

Unwrapped: Illegal Supergraphic Ad Removed From Historic Hollywood Hotel

Left, east wall of hotel in 2007; right, as of 4/29/2010

During his 2009 election campaign, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich promised to crack down on anyone putting up illegal billboards and supergraphic signs. Continuing to make good on that promise, his office has gotten the owners of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel to remove the latest in a series of illegal supergraphics that have covered the walls of the historic structure for the past four years.

This post was written by dennis on April 29, 2010

Lawsuit Against City Attorney Seeks to Bar Arrest of Sign Law Violators and the Setting of “Excessive Bail.”

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, Supergraphic on Office Building Near LAX

(Update: On April 2, U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins denied the request for a restraining order against City Attorney Carmen Trutanich)

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by the president of three outdoor advertising firms and a property rights group, also lists 15 “parties of interest”, including the building owner arrested last month and held for a weekend in jail on $1 million bail after allowing a huge unpermitted supergraphic sign to be put up on his Hollywood Blvd. building.

This post was written by dennis on March 31, 2010

Disappearing Supergraphics: No More Open Season in L.A. For Rogue Sign Companies?

Supergrapic, top, put up earlier this year along 10 freeway by company called Vanguard Outdoor, removed on March 24

Following on the heels of last week’s highly-publicized decision by CBS Outdoor to remove two illegal supergraphic signs in Hollywood, other unpermitted supergraphics have quietly disappeared, although it remains to be seen whether or not the buildings will remain unswathed by the giant mesh and vinyl advertising signs that are big revenue generators for sign companies.

This post was written by dennis on March 25, 2010

UNCOVERED: After Six Years, Giant Supergraphic Ads Finally Come Down

CBS Outdoor has finally removed illegal supergraphic ads that have long dominated the surroundings of this 1926 building in Hollywood. As reported in the L.A. Times, the company, a subsidiary of CBS Corp., agreed to remove the 11-story signs after being sent a cease-and-desist letter by City Attorney Carmen Trutanich. A complaint about the two 27,000 sq. ft. vinyl ads was registered with the city in 2004, and an order to comply was issued by the Department of Building of Safety in June, 2006.
Read More…

Posted under Billboards, CBS Outdoor, L.A. City Government, Supergraphics, Trutanich

This post was written by dennis on March 21, 2010

Supergraphic Signs: Carmen Trutanich, the Code of Hammurabi, and Excessive Bail

Detail of bolts and cable holding supergraphic sign on Hollywood Blvd. building. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said the 8-story sign could pose a hazard to people on the street below.

The highly-charged debate about the $1 million bail set for a man accused of allowing an illegal supergraphic sign on his Hollywood Blvd. building brings to mind the 2,500-year old Code of Hammurabi, which prescribed a penalty of death for any builder who put up a house that fell down and killed its owner. This is thought to be the beginning of building codes, and the modern system of permits and inspectors that embodies the idea that people should not have to rely on builders and property owners to assure them that the structures they live and work in and pass by in the streets won’t cave in on their heads or easily burst into flames.

This post was written by dennis on March 4, 2010

Owner of Building With Huge Supergraphic Sign Goes To Jail, Illegal Sign Across Street Draws No Action (Yet)

Illegal Supergraphic ad for Asics shoes on Hollywood Blvd. (Credit: Curbed LA)

Update: Warrants have been issued for the arrest of the owner of the building and the sign company responsible. See L.A. Times article.

Our friends at Curbed LA were out in the middle of the night covering the removal of the giant supergraphic ad from the historic First National Bank Building on Hollywood Blvd., and they observed the fact that a new, albeit much smaller, supergraphic had gone up on a building across the street. Which raises the question: Should the City Attorney’s office, which engineered the weekend jailing of the First National Bank Building’s owner, also be going after the owner of the second property?

This post was written by dennis on March 2, 2010

Owner Arrested For Hollywood Supergraphic Previously Cited For Sign Law Violations

Supergraphic ad for 2007 movie "Transformers" being torn off by wind. The building is at Sunset & Vine in Hollywood. (Credit: Curbed LA)

Friday night’s arrest of Kayvan Setareh for allowing an 8-story supergraphic ad to be wrapped across three sides of an historic Hollywood building was not the first time the Pacific Palisades man has run afoul of the city’s sign code, according to building department records. In January, 2007, a citation was issued for an illegal supergraphic on the building at 6777 Hollywood Blvd, and In November, 2006, citations were issued for a total of four illegal supergraphics on another building owned by Setareh at 5858 Hollywood Blvd. As reported by the L.A. Times, the arrest of Setareh followed concerns that because there was no inspection of the gigantic ad’s attachment to the building it could come loose and cause injury to pedestrians and motorists in the busy street below.

Posted under Billboards, L.A. City Government, Supergraphics, Trutanich

This post was written by dennis on February 28, 2010

Office Tenants Plagued by Series of Illegal Supergraphic Signs; Do the L.A. City Attorney and District Councilman Care?

Andrea Bari, of Link Music, across the street from his second floor office behind the illegal supergraphic sign for HTC cellphones

Andrea Bari across the street from his second floor office windows covered by the supergraphic sign advertising HTC cellphones. It is the third illegal sign put up on the building this year.

Last March, we reported on the case of an illegal supergraphic sign advertising Chase Bank installed over the second-floor office windows of a building at 7201 Melrose Ave. The city issued a citation to the building owner, Macculloch Properties of Brentwood, and in May referred that citation to the City Attorney’s office for criminal prosecution. The sign was then removed, but replaced in August by one advertising the TV show, Melrose Place. Then in October, a third supergraphic sign went up, this one advertising HTC cellphones. As of this writing, the sign was still in place.

This post was written by dennis on December 2, 2009

« Previous Entries

Ban Billboard Blight Protecting the visual environment of Los Angeles

Latest News & Views

Categories

Meta