7/14/2016
By Ivan Pereira
Long Island City’s most iconic sign is now an official city landmark.
The City Council voted 43-0 Thursday to give the Pepsi-Cola sign at Gantry Plaza State Park the designation, making it the first piece of advertising to be landmarked in the city.
The 60-feet-high by 120-feet-long neon fixture was installed in 1936, and was first submitted to the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1988, but the application remained in limbo until this year.
“Today, after long last, we’ve officially made the sign a New York City landmark, and this staggering piece of pop art will now shine forever across the East River,” City Councilman Jimmy van Bramer, who fought for the landmarking, said in a statement.
The LPC took a new look at the request in February along with 29 of other backlogged items and put it on the fast track.
