NoHo Gateway Sign: Subjective Art

When my New Yorker friend visited me over the summer, one of the first landmarks we passed after exiting the freeway was the NoHo Gateway sign on Lankershim Boulevard.

"Wow, that's ugly," she said.

I hit the gas pedal to make the process as painless as possible, but the image of the sign lingered in my mind many blocks later. Does the brightly colored geometric sign typify the eccentric, artsy neighborhood? 

The sign was erected in July 2009 to commemorate North Hollywood's 30th anniversary, and features a lime green/yellow base, adorned with several charcoal gray circles and a few smaller orange and yellow ones. The letters "NO HO" are aligned in the center; The N and H are red, the O's are thick and black on white rectangles. A movie reel is adhered to one side, as are generic human shapes.

Peter Shire, the artist who was chosen to create the sign, has an impressive resumé: solo exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Frank Lloyd Gallery, and public art commissions for Pasadena, Long Beach and Santa Monica. 

"It brings a lot of credibility to the neighborhood," said Susan Gray, cultural arts planner for the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (CRA/LA). 

CRA funded Shire with $290,000 to make his gateway sign. Over $500,000 more was granted to the city's Department of General Services for construction and installation, a project that wouldn't be possible in today's economy. 

"It's all triggered by development," said Gray. "There was more funding for the arts in 2007."

While some may be ambivalent toward the sign, it was picked over 60 other designs by community leaders and merchants. 

"It was a very involved community process, and lengthy," said Gray. 

The sign was intended to bring a community together, and it has done just that. When neighbors disagree on politics, religion or theater, they can usually agree on the indifference they feel toward the sign. When I asked friends and neighbors who live off Lankershim about the sign, they wrinkled up their noses or shrugged. 

Gray told me that the sign has received a positive reception from the community. In the future, CRA plans to work with different theaters in the neighborhood on facility upgrades. They will also be involved in the restoration of Phil's Diner and the development of the new Laemmle Theatre. 

For its intended purposes, the sign does its job. It welcomes visitors and residents into a neighborhood filled with theater, art galleries, vintage shops and night life. The aesthetic appeal of the gateway sign, like the art I made in college, is subjective.