Writing Tall

After reading Sam Hall Kaplan’s commentary on Donald Trump’s plans to build the world’s tallest building in Los Angeles and then Ron Galperin’s article regarding signage on Los Angeles high-rises (“How Companies Put Names up in Lights,” Feb. 4) I couldn’t help but think of what a volatile mix we have here.

Picture it: Trump succeeds in erecting a building some 2,000 feet tall and at the mega-structure’s summit we see in glaring neon “Trump Tower.” Don’t laugh, it could happen.

Los Angeles desperately needs to join the ranks of other U.S. cities that forbid signage on buildings over a specified height. Some of our cities’ finest high-rise buildings are being defaced by greedy, egocentric corporations looking for one last chance to make a buck.

First Interstate Bank has to be the worst offender with its golden “Is” atop its new headquarters. The building that brought the Los Angeles skyline into the future has been reduced to what makes me think of a giant pinball machine.

At long last Los Angeles has a real skyline, but step back and look at what we’re doing to it. Let’s get a law on the books now and put an end to this endless barrage of corporate graffiti on our city’s skyscrapers.

ELIJAH JONES

Los Angeles