Architects make Hollywood sign disappear
Part of the On the Road Project, an installation by Ordinary Architecture has creates the illusion that the letters of the iconic Hollywood sign have toppled, rolling one by one down the hill on which they stand
Despite its iconic status, the Hollywood sign didn't actually make its movie debut until it was 50 years old. Its first role was in the film Earthquake staring Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner, in which that eponymous seismic event causes the familiar nine white letters to tumble, one by one, down the Hollywood hillside.
Photo: Jamie Kowal
Forty years on from that film, a new art project has created a similar illusion. Commissioned by On the Road Project as part of a year-long series of art, installation and architecture events staged in various public locations throughout Los Angeles, the installation -Falling Icon - consisted of a series of massive white 3-dimentonal letters scattered along the Mount Lee Drive trail that leads up to the Hollywood sign.
Photo: Jamie Kowal
According its makers, Ordinary Architecture, the project explores 'a fascination with larger-than-life signage and supergraphics' along with the fact that even if you make it to the top of the Mount Lee Drive trail, the iconic letters remain tantalisingly out of reach.
Photo: Wendy Gilmartin
Unsuspecting trekkers in the Hollywood Hills first encountered a huge 'H' in their path. A few steps later they discovered a viewfinder striped like a rockslide warning sign; through its lens it appeared that the 'H' was missing from the Hollywood sign. Continuing up the trail, more missing letters and viewfinders were discovered, until finally there was nothing left of the sign at all...
'By recreating these giant, 3 dimensional letters on a human scale and placing them on the public trail, visitors were able to touch, hold and have their photo taken with this most popular and recognised symbol of Los Angeles,' says Ordinary Architecture