After years of storage, the city officials plan to return the famous VIP sign in Central Long Beach.
Officials confirmed her wish last week – apart from the disapproval of the public – to increase the sign on the southwestern corner of the Pacific Coast Highway and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue compared to the original Storefront location on the other side of the street.
It will sit on a quarter of a hectare property of public land, of which the officials say that they can prevent events, works of art or something more permanently-they said on what the community wants, they said.
The location was created on Thursday on Thursday at Long Beach City College, where the officials before the Summer Olympics in 2028 were detailed.
“This is the property that we concentrate on,” said Eric Lopez, director of public work, which has been added: “But what happens about this property, what else happens there? That is the question that we have no answers to. That is a question that we want to start with the conversation (with.) “
The city says that it will soon publish a survey to receive community input.
The sign that was decreased in 2018 when the original location of VIP Record became a 7-eleven is also being renovated. The removal of the sign resulted in serious signs of wear. As a proven historical landmark, the officials said that it will be undergoing a restoration that corresponds to the federal standards, including “re -painting, electrical repair, repair of acrylic, replacement of globes, repairs for rust and other damage and other similar work”.
Officials said they want an contractor who can manage both the restoration and the installation of the sign.
Lopez did not specify a precise timeline, but said that the city would take at least a few months for the planning at the session before it brought it to the Long Beach City Council for approval.
It was seven years since the 20-foot sign was removed from the roof of its namesake.
In its heyday, the sign accompanied the VIP Records Store in Long Beach- The flagship of 14 locations in Los Angeles County, which brought the career of locals such as Snoop Dogg, Warren G and the late Nate Dogg to the world, which was the first four Song demo at VIP. After signing his first label deal, Snoop Dogg took part of his “Who am I? (What is my name) video on the roof of the business.
However, the decline in sales and the branch led 3,300 square meters of the location of the location of the location on the Pacific Coast Highway up to a place half as large as nearby.
Kelvin Anderson, owner of VIP Records, shared his excitement about the restoration of the sign at the meeting on Thursday.
“In any case, it can hardly wait to get it out and in a public point of view,” said Anderson about the sign and added that he would still like to see how the sign ends up in a museum at some point. “But this is the first start to restore it in a public point of view, definitely with the Olympic Olympic Games, and I'm very excited about it.”
Anderson added that he was constantly amazed at the canonized heritage behind the shop. “I would say that fifty percent of people who come here every day are tourists,” he said. “I see that people with tattoos of the sign come on their shoulders on their neck. … I don't have one (straight), but that's astonishing that there is still the recognition it gets. “
It is also a small, but sensible part of the years of efforts to restore the Central Long Beach District, which has long affected false as a pass-through community, which suffers from disinvestment.
“We know that the VIP sign is more than just a landmark. … It is a symbol for Long Beiach's contribution to black music history and proof of Mr. Kelvin Anderson's legacy, ”said Suey Saro, council member of the 6th district.