Those who have traveled an old alignment of Route 66 recently along northeast Los Angeles may have gazed up into one of the hills overlooking the city and found an unfamiliar — yet familiar — sight.
It’s a massive “Glassellland” sign halfway up a hill above the Glassell ParkRecreation Center. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the sign with 10-foot-tall letters was erected by an artist named Justin (no last name given) who has planted cutouts of movie stars in the Glendale area.
Times reporter Steve Lopez spoke to Howard Seth Cohen, a publicist for the “Glassellland” sign:
Cohen told me he thinks Justin is trying to instill a sense of civic pride in Glassell Park and suggest that romanticism is not confined to the hoity toity Westside neighborhoods.
The sign pays a sort of homage to the world-famous “Hollywood” sign in Los Angeles, which actually was “Hollywoodland” many years ago.
Scott Piotrowski, an expert on Route 66 in Los Angeles, said by email after sending a photo of the sign:
The hill is a part of Mount Washington (the hill, not the community in Los Angeles). It literally is surrounded by Route 66 on three sides, and another portion of 66 sits slightly north. In other words, coming down from the hill, you almost HAVE to at least cross Route 66 to get anywhere. […] The view of the sign is from the west side of the hill, along Eagle Rock Boulevard and Verdugo Road. In this Google maps link https://goo.gl/maps/CWrXx the Glassell Park Community Center is marked. Just south / east of there is Mimosa Drive. The sign sits between Mimosa and Kinney on the hillside.
And Piotrowski agrees the “Glassellland” sign isn’t mocking the “Hollywood” sign so much, but was created by “someone calling this community their home and taking great pride in that fact.”
(Hat tip: Scott Piotrowski)