The L.A. City Attorney's office is suing the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, alleging that the hotel illegally displayed supergraphic advertising on its exterior walls. C'mon, L.A.! Hollywood needed to know when "How to Train Your Dragon" was hitting theaters! more ›

Another supergraphic, another arrest. The L.A. City Attorney's Office on Friday arrested a building owner on 48 misdemeanor charges. 56-year-old Siamak Michael Rahimi, a Santa Monica resident, is accused of violating city law by installing and maintaining supergraphic signs at 9800 South Sepulveda Boulevard, across the street from LAX. more ›

Billboard installers aren't being taken to jail like earlier this year, but the fight over signage in Los Angeles continues. A billboard company accused installing an illegal supegraphic in view of the 10 Freeway in Boyle Heights has been ordered to take it down or pay two $2 million bonds to keep the sign up during the length of the trial. more ›

With the Oscars a few days away, it looks like Hollywood and Highland is becoming ground zero in the battle over supergraphics, the large advertisements that often cover whole facades of buildings. Current Los Angeles law bans the installation of news ones. more ›

Dakota Smith at Curbed LA stuck it out into the wee hours of this morning as the large illegal supergraphic that landed one businessman in jail over the weekend was taken down. As she witnessed the slow operation alongside David Berger, special assistant to the City Attorney, the businessman's lawyer, Andrew Stein, asked why other supergraphics and billboards got to stay up. "Why is that one legal, because it's part of the building?" he asked of Berger, pointing out a billboard at the Hollywood & Highland complex across the street. Even more suspicious is an Asics ad that was apparently installed last week on one of the other corners. more ›

Kayvan Setareh, the man accused of posting a large supergraphic on a building at Hollywood and Highland, spent the weekend in jail while being held on $1 million bail. Today in court, however, bail was reduced to $100,000 because Setareh agreed to take the sign down. At issue is the city's ban on new supergraphics, which went into effect last year. The sign, on the other hand, went up last week without any permits. *Updated Post more ›

Will the world witness Los Angeles' inability to regulate illegal signage on Oscar day? Just a day after city attorneys filed sweeping lawsuits against supergraphics across the city, a new one has appeared on the First National Bank Building, just down the red carpet from where the Oscars will take place on March 7th, says Dennis Hathaway at Ban Billboard Blight. "The supergraphic that went up two days ago without any permits is made of vinyl and attached to the building with eyebolts and cables, a method that has aroused the ire of historic preservationists" he said. The company responsible for the ad, iMedia, says the building will get two digital billboards and that an ad on Oscars night will cost $216,000. more ›

At today's City Council meeting, Ban Billboard Coaltiion's Dennis Hathaway stood up during public comment to bring up a specific issue with supergraphics on one Melrose Avenue building. Two frustrated tenants spoke as well, saying they were sold on the 2nd story office locations by having a view over the famed street. Acording to one of the tenants, a city inspector said the issue is not just civil, but criminal because it was blocking fire escapes. Google Street View catches the building in question, which is 7201 Melrose Avenue, with a supergraphic wrapping around the building. Will the city prosecute the landlord? more ›

For the most part, new supergraphics and billboards are illegal under a moratorium passed last December (there are a handful of locations grandfathered in, though). We're not sure if this bold new supergraphic at (check out an old supergraphic in streetview) is one of the illegal ones or not, but this looks like a new step into the future of them. That 3D cup of frozen joe (or whatever it is) on that fake brick is described as huge by LAist contributor Tim Hammer who noticed it while driving. What's next? Digital supergraphics? more ›

Too bad Manny is suspended. Blogdowntown reports that despite a moratorium on supergraphics, new "Mannywood" advertisements have appeared on the sides of buildings on Flower and Figueroa in the past two weeks. Funny thing is, the billboard moratorium was just extended yesterday until June 24th. (Photo: Eric Richardson) more ›

By Mark Dolley, Special to LAist more ›

At a hearing yesterday, U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins found the city in contempt for enforcing a supergraphic moratorium on World Wide Rush, the one company allowed to hang supergraphics in specific locations under an injunction. "Collins chastised the city for refusing to allow World Wide Rush to even apply for permits and then citing the company for not having them, specifically referring to two locations, one in Westwood and the other near the Miracle Mile," the LA Times reported. more ›

Yesterday. the City Council extended a three-month moratorium on new supergraphics and digital billboards for an additional 45 days. "The ICO [Interim Control Ordinance] will expire on March 26, 2009, but the legislative process to approve changes to the City’s sign ordinances may not be completed by March 26. If the ICO is allowed to lapse for even one day, a flurry of illegal signs could be installed and be nearly impossible to remove later," stressed a statement from Councilman Jack Weiss' office. This comes as both the Daily News and a follow up from the LA Times attracts attention to chopped down trees on Caltrans property along the 405 freeway near new supergraphics on the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Also: After LAist's ran this story, CBS took down their Dr. Phil supergraphic. more ›

Even though the city has given the CIM Group over $28 million in financial aid for the past few years for redevelopment projects, they are allowing illegal supergraphics and billboards on their properties in Hollywood. The city agreed last year to let them have three supergraphics--currently there are six. Additionally, the agreement included taking down two billboards that are still up. more ›

To the astonishment of building tenants and just about everyone else, an illegal supergraphic went up last week on the same building that was used by the city as an example of the verboten advertisements. In late January, the building at National and Westwood Boulevard--then with a Tropicana supergraphic--was used as a press conference backdrop to talk about fire department safety concerns and how the city is looking to have stricter penalties. more ›

Westfield is looking to do a 235,000 square foot expansion of their Sherman Oaks Fashion Square location, bringing back some of the outdoor promenade open air feel it had before the 1994 earthquake. It's been in an extensive community process for over three years with Westfield and neighbors working together, of course, not always agreeing together. After all, this is a regional mall smack dab in the middle of a single family home community. more ›

Not only does Warner Bros' The Watchmen look terrible, it recently is the latest content on an illegal supergraphic endangering tenants of this four-story building off the Robertson Blvd. exit from the 10 Freeway, finds billboard activist Dennis Hathaway. more ›

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo today filed criminal charges against a billboard company and building owners over an illegal sign next to the 10 Freeway. Keep in mind, this is two days after the city held a press conference under the same exact sign saying they were revving up to fight if these don't come down. more ›

City Councilman and City Attorney candidate Jack Weiss held a press conference yesterday to announce a tougher stance on enforcement of illegal billboards. “Because supergraphics are so profitable, full penalties must be brought to cut into the flow of profits and give enforcement some teeth,” he said. As Curbed LA explained, supergraphics on buildings pose a fire danger. Let's say a fire happens on an upper floor of a building, but there's a 5,000 pound supergraphic covering the windows. Well, that doesn't work if firefighters need use ladders and climb through windows. An online database will be built soon so the public can report and upload photos of illegal signs. more ›

"Why haven't we heard a single word from Mayor Villaraigosa about protecting building tenants and the public from this appropriation of the city's visual landscape for commercial advertising?" That's Dennis Hathaway of BanBillboardBlight.org, an advocacy site that keeps current on the Los Angeles' billboard problems. Hathaway is referring to an LA Times editorial today that calls out Villaraigosa. more ›