Brand New Look on Figueroa

The Los Angeles Downtown News reports that the Figueroa Corridor Partnership Business Improvement District (FCPBID) has added permanent banners to light poles lining Figueroa Street, ultimately gracing poles on Figueroa Street, Vermont Avenue, Flower Street, Jefferson Boulevard, Washington Boulevard, 23rd Street and Exposition Boulevard.

This news also answers a question we've always harbored about the banner system in LA. Apparently, the the traditional canvas banners that usually grace city light poles have to be renewed every three months with the city.

A Los Angeles Business Journal story gives the inside dope on the current history of promotional banners in the city

The banners first appeared with King Tutankhamen exhibition in the 1970s and hit their stride with the Summer Olympics in 1984. By 1999, there were 6,200 light pole banners flying above Los Angeles' most well traveled thoroughfares.

When the city imposed its new rules--the residue of a flap-over 1,000 bright yellow banners put up by ABC to promote its new television season--it also stopped allowing council members-to waive banner fees, a practice that had become endemic at City Hall.

The FCPBID paid $65,000 to fix permanent signs on its light posts.