Rosslyn Neon Sign Lit... For Filming

We drove past it last night on our way to Little Tokyo (frozen gurt run) and was taken back by the size of the two signs. It would be great to have them and the other neon signs around town up and glowing.

I like the looking down Broadway at night and seeing the sign to the Broadway bar. They can be seen at night from blocks away. They add a much needed sense of character to the cityscape.

Taking my cue from Ed’s “Another Day. Another Quote” item over at “View From A Loft”

“I smelled Los Angeles before I got to it. It smelled stale and old like a living room that had been closed too long. But the colored lights fooled you. The lights were wonderful. There ought to be a monument to the man who invented neon lights. Fifteen stories high, solid marble. There’s a boy who really made something out of nothing.”

Raymond Chandler

Just another example of the city spending milions, but having the money go down a rat hole due to incompetence and a lack of planning. And in the last year, this type of spending money on projects with no financial accountability has only gotten far, far, far worse, alas.

Frontiera doesn’t own the original Rosslyn Hotel anymore, Amerland owns it now, I think. Same people that bought the Alexandria. Anyone want to confirm this?

Rob Frontiera and Amerland are in escrow on the Rossyn Lofts (formerly the Frontier Hotel), but the sale has not been finalized. Frontiera is still the owner. However, he does not own the Rosslyn Hotel, across 5th Street, where my gallery is located. He was a minor partner for a while, but no longer. The Rossylyn Hotel is owner by Trimor Properties in Orange County.

The Rosslyn Lofts is the original Rosslyn Hotel, and the now Rosslyn Hotel is the annex, built 8 years later. Until the 1970s they were owned by the same people, but ownership split at that time.

I’ll blog about it some more later today.

My regular jogging route is from 7th/main up main to the 101. I encountered some real jerks while running by the filming area directly in front of the hotel. There were no signs saying the sidewalk was closed, nor any cones, just alot of filming trucks and equipment. Now, I have no problem going around, but I had no clue that I could not run through there (I run through crews on the sidewalk all the time). Even so, I was yelled at by two people for being in a no pedestrian zone. I asked where the signs were saying that and was ignored and told again that I had to get out of the area.

Then on the way back I was physically stopped by one of the crew while running saying that I had to go around. This was before I even got to the filming area, which I was going to run around anyway. I was kind of surprised, because most of the time the crews are pretty friendly.

I can’t believe they do not have these lit all the time! What a waste of decoration. I didn’t even know those signs lit up. This would instantly add more color and uniquness to the skyline. (Plus I could see it out of my window….)

The fact the Department of Water and Power itself is too lazy and too much the skinflint to keep their own building’s fountains running and lit up more than a few hours per day, per evening, says a lot about how half-crocked the city is. Although, to be fair, at least City Hall has been illuminated over the past few years. And then, thanks in part to Jan Perry, there’s the re-activating of the lights on the goofy, yet lovable, Triforium.

Still, the things that folks in at least a few other major cities take for granted always seem to require so much more of a struggle to accomplish here in LA.

John–totally agree. I didn’t know the neons were still operational, either, and it would really add a lot to the skyline to light them all up again. I already enjoy that neon clock that they still light up most of the time (somewhere around 7th and Olive?).

Gillian–good point on the DWP. I had to look at that ugly, empty moat around the DWP building (from my office window) for probably over a year before they finally fixed whatever was broken and re-filled it with water, and even then it took them a while before they ran those fountains. The fountains look good when they actually run them.

Let there be neon lights and lighted fountains for all.

The neon clock to which Naturallawyer refers is atop the Oviatt Building at 617 S. Olive. The building accomodates both the Oviatt Penthouse and a restaurant, Cicada.