LOS ANGELES — The reviews are in for the new Hollywood sign, now allegedly reading RAMS HOUSE in commemoration of the Los Angeles Rams' Super Bowl victory, and they are scathing.
"Just pure chaotic perfection," TikTok streamer and TV producer Dana Alyss wrote on Twitter.
"Utterly ridiculous and incredibly tacky, which suits Hollywood pretty well actually," wrote Zelda Williams, daughter of Hollywood legend Robin Williams.
The reactions stem from the RAMS HOUSE letters being nearly unreadable. The white letters are printed on banners covering the old HOLLYWOOD letters, with a brown background meant to blend in with the usually dry hillside. But the banners stick out against the newly green brush brought on by recent rainstorms, and the outlines of the HOLLYWOOD letters still show through.
The effect is almost an optical illusion that changes the word the more you look at it.
A selection of various interpretations from social media and the Los Angeles Reddit page: HOLSHWOSE, RAMSLOSE, HAMSHOOSE.
Some pointed at the multiple instances of vandalism that made much more legible changes to the real estate advertisement turned tourist attraction — and more quickly, too.
On New Year's Day 2017, a lone man altered the sign to read HOLLYWeeD. An art student had made the same change 41 years earlier.
In 2010, the Trust for Public Land changed the sign to read "Save The Peak" to protest the sale of nearby Cahuenga Peak for real estate purposes.
In that instance, protesters used banners with stark, white backgrounds and red and black lettering to cover and remake the nearly century-old sign.
Multiple users pointed out that most of those changes were made in a single night, while the RAMS HOUSE makeover took more than two days, timed to coincide with the Rams' Super Bowl parade Wednesday.
After the game Sunday, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that the sign would be changed to honor the Rams, with the team footing the bill.
"What a day in Los Angeles — the Rams are Super Bowl Champions," he said in a statement. "This town has the best teams and fans in the world, and we can't wait to show off our L.A. pride with a display that only Hollywood could deliver."
All told, this remake looks poised to be a historic flop instead of a crowd-pleasing blockbuster.
———
