MIGRATORY ANAGRAMS

2010

Urban Planning

Los Angeles, USA

Superfront Gallery, Los Angeles

Conceived as a promotional billboard for a real estate development, the Hollywood sign has increased the land value of the residential neighborhood immediately below it. Geographically, the area is not so different than neighboring hillside subdivisions. There are no distinguishing natural features. Its location is not particularly advantageous. The views are more or less the same as those from adjacent canyons. The natural landscape is typical of the region. It’s the landmark sign that makes the area unique. The giant letters differentiate it from other swaths of the Hollywood Hills, over time contributing to its value as an intrinsically desirable environment in which to live.

Having benefited from the presence of the sign, does the area still need it? Could it increase the land value elsewhere by its sudden appearance, just as it has for this somewhat arbitrary place? Why limit it to a fixed location when its power to give heightened definition to a neighborhood can be applied to other precincts of LA?

Proposal: Let it roam. The sign’s simple structure and generic materials lend it to temporary erection on any number of sites in the city. Neighborhoods ‘borrow’ the sign or a subgroup of its letters for a determined period. Migrating throughout the Southland, the sign increases its usefulness in the spirit of its original purpose.

Jeffrey Inaba and Darien Williams