Vinyl Ads Just Don't Cut It on the Hotel Figueroa
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
A ripped vinyl ad for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars hangs on the Hotel Figueroa.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — In December of last year, CBS Outdoor ended a long tradition of hand-painted ads on the outside of the Hotel Figueroa when it slapped a vinyl sticker for Target on the building's three-part southern face.
While these new ads might look similar, they lack the character that the previous pitches on the building had possessed. Whether you were a fan of the advertising or not, you had to admire the work that went into painting photo-realistic images on a 15-story building.
Today's ads are nothing but stickers, spit out of a printer and stuck to the building. Ready for a new ad? Just slap it on top, layering away the texture of the building beneath.
Over the weekend, winds ripped the center panel in the hotel's current ad for the video game Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Underneath the flapping, tattered wrap is an orange background, part an ad for the film "Kung Fu Panda."
It seems funny to wax nostalgic for an advertisement, but I miss seeing the side of the building get whitewashed before a new ad went up. I miss the multi-day process of passing by the corner of Figueroa and Olympic and guessing what it was that was going up.
While other areas of the city are trying to fight ads and billboards, the people that I talk to Downtown are generally in support of ads. All they ask is that the ads show some site-specific creativity, adding something to Downtown instead of just plastering images over it.
Pamela Rouse (@) on April 14, 2009, at 10:06AM – #1
wow.. that looks rather tacky. I agree with you that the painted ads looked much better.. and there was a artistic aspect to it, and a process.
Jasmijn on April 14, 2009, at 10:30AM – #2
I was also quite disappointed when I realized that was a giant sticker. I'm always fascinated by people painting murals, especially on that scale, so that part of the process was what reconciled me to the final product (even if I didn't particularly like the ad that ended up there). Are they going to stick with the stickers (no pun intended, this time)? I hope not.
And it does look awfully tacky to have it flapping in the wind like that. NOT a good reflection on either the agency or the product.
Oscar Avalos on April 14, 2009, at 11:16AM – #3
I hope their client complains and either pull it off or make them paint it.... what a bunch of a** ho's ...
I think it's a lot more cool to have a painted add than a printed one, so lifeless...
I wish we had those banner painters from the 70's and 80's, from before printers and photoshop...
Organic baby... ... organic... just like my sativa... just kidding!
Shane Bennett on April 15, 2009, at 05:01PM – #4
I work for the Company that used to Paint the Fig. and its a shame to see hand paints going vynil. Its still takes artistic talent to hand paint the advertisements. Our web site is www.artfxmurals.com
Shane Bennett
Mick on April 15, 2009, at 07:08PM – #5
When looking at the peeling mural turn around and see other mural print painted. It would take some extreme conditions to bring a hand painted one down.
vanessa on April 15, 2009, at 07:15PM – #6
i prefer the old school mural effect...a dying art, unfortunately.
Jeff baldino on April 16, 2009, at 01:25AM – #7
Bring back the original painted ads!!
Bill Lord on June 17, 2009, at 03:47PM – #8
I have photographed the Figueroa Hotel many times and I live 200 miles away (Pismo Beach, Ca), yet I still come to Los Angeles just to photograph the hotel and I have a lot of good and different images. I understand there is a movement to stop advertising in the mural form. I love the muralists and if they put a stop to it that form of art it will go away. I enjoyed the article very much. Let us keep the art going.Sincerely, Bill Lord
Thomas K Nagano on August 15, 2011, at 04:50PM – #9
It all changed when they went from the painted walls with the Laker Centers, other great images to vinyl selling toilet tissue. - TK