Apr 2, 2017 4 min read

Based on the prevalence of its signage around town, some people might think the name of the city at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers is UPMC.

Maybe that’s why a local group wants to replace a landmark electronic billboard perched on the side of Mount Washington with a reminder of exactly where they are.

As reported Tuesday by WESA radio, the nonprofit Scenic Pittsburgh has sent a letter to Lamar Advertising, which currently owns the 7,200-square-foot billboard, asking it to give or sell the property to the group. Scenic Pittsburgh’s proposal: replace the sign with 30-foot-tall white block letters that spell PITTSBURGH.

Well, at least it won’t say PICKSBURGH.

Not everyone is thrilled with the idea. Best Facebook comment I’ve seen: “Why? We know where we live.”

Many older Western Pennsylvanians will remember the billboard as home to a red neon digital display that for more than 30 years flashed A-L-C-O-A and the current time. Alcoa stopped using the sign in 1995; Miles Corp., formerly Mobay, took over, followed by Bayer Co., which ended its lease in 2014. But since June 1, the billboard has displayed a garish black-and-yellow vinyl banner, erected during last year’s Stanley Cup hockey playoffs, that says “Pittsburgh WINS with Black and Yellow: Sprint.” Everyone seems to hate the sign, even in a city where sports fans claim they “bleed black and gold.”

Pittsburgh City Council has been locked in a legal battle with Lamar and Sprint since the day the banner appeared. The city claims the companies erected a nonconforming sign without obtaining proper permits. Lamar spins the tale differently, saying the banner is an improvement over the worn, rusty, gray and white panels that form its framework. Bear this in mind, however: Not long ago, Lamar also said an improvement would be converting the billboard into a giant LED display hawking Giant Eagle specials. City council sliced up that idea like so much chipped ham.

Advertising signs have been clinging to Mt. Washington, once called Coal Hill, for more than 100 years. As early as 1910, a study prepared for the Pittsburgh Civic Commission complained of “painful advertising signs” and recommended that the hillside, stripped to its bones by quarrying and coal mining, be reforested. But it wasn’t until the 1950s that wholesale tree-planting began.

Scenic Pittsburgh executive director Mike Dawida touts his group’s plan as a way to noncommercially use a prominent spot that often is shown during TV coverage of sporting events at PNC Park and Heinz Field. Think of the HOLLYWOOD sign, Dawida told WESA.

But perhaps Dawida doesn’t know that the HOLLYWOOD sign originally said HOLLYWOODLAND and was a 50-foot-high, 440-foot-wide advertisement for a housing development. Or that the original HOLLYWOOD sign required constant maintenance and repair for nearly 30 years and suffered termite damage and vandalism to the point that it had to be torn down twice until being replaced by its 45-foot-high current incarnation. Or that, despite being described as having “more security than Fort Knox” – razor wire, round-the-clock video monitoring, motion sensors, alarms and helicopter patrols – in January a prankster changed the sign’s adjacent O’s to E’s, making it read HOLLYWEED. Remember: PICKSBURGH.

But a giant PITTSBURGH sign isn’t a forgone conclusion if Lamar agrees to hand over the billboard. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto told WESA the city will solicit ideas for how best to use the space. Here are a few of mine:

• A 300-foot-long, 50-foot-high Terrible Towel

• A 66-foot-tall likeness of Mario Lemieux, followed by 50-foot-tall letters spelling out HEEEEE SHOOTS AND SCORES!!!!!

• A 50-foot-tall likeness of Fred Rogers talking to a 20-foot-tall King Friday the 13th

• Mt. Yinzmore: The 50-foot-tall faces of former Pittsburgh Mayors Pete Flaherty, Dick Caliguiri and Sophie Masloff stare west.

Or, following the quaint Pittsburgh practice of using long-gone landmarks to give directions:

• WHERE THAT BIG SIGN WAS AT.