Workers on Friday began removing a supergraphic from a building on Hollywood Boulevard that was at the center of the latest criminal sign case filed by City Atty. Carmen Trutanich.
A judge issued arrest warrants Tuesday for four people accused by Trutanich of putting up five unpermitted signs at 6800 Hollywood Blvd. and 6810-6820 Hollywood Blvd. The city’s sign law bans the installation of new supergraphics.
Deputy City Atty. Spencer Hart said a lawyer for two of the defendants, Alexander Kouba and France Luanghy, notified the city that the signs would come down while the criminal case is pending. Hart said the signs posed a “continuing threat to public safety" because they were installed without a city inspection.
Kouba and Luanghy each posted $100,000 bail Thursday. A third defendant, Thomas Curtin, posted $100,000 bail Friday.
Steve Madison, an attorney for Kouba and Luanghy, said the signs were “perfectly legal and safe."
“Given that the city attorney has taken the position that not only are they unlawful but criminal, we thought the prudent thing to do in the meantime would be to take them down," Madison said.
Shortly after 5 p.m., a supergraphic on the south-facing wall of 6800 Hollywood Blvd. had come down. Madison said the clients, which include the billboard company known as Community Redevelopment Assn., would continue to fight the charges.
The announcement came less than a week after Trutanich secured the removal of an eight-story supergraphic across the street. The defendant in that case, Kayvan Setareh, spent three days in jail on $1-million bail before being released. He has admitted no wrongdoing.
–David Zahniser at Los Angeles City Hall