‘Raleighwood’ Sign Appears on Hillsborough Street
A few months ago, some 1920s-era storefronts and an old rental house across from Cup-a-Joe on Hillsborough Street were knocked down. In their place, a gigantic mound of dirt was left. It’s been the subject of speculation amongst passersby and coffee shop patrons, but I don’t think anything has been publicly stated outlining exactly what the miniature mountain is all about.
When driving by last night, I noticed a blinking light from the top of the mound. Upon further inspection, I noticed a bit more.
I’ve never been very fond of the phrase Raleighwood, but it seems to fit this location. I pass by this place every day during my commute, and a few days ago some LEDs were added. It looks like someone took it a bit further and decorated it to resemble the mountain in L.A. with the iconic Hollywood sign.
My guess is that the hill is there in anticipation of the Stanhope Plan [PDF] coming to fruition, and the fill dirt will be used in grading and leveling the landscape in support of it.
It remains to be seen how long Raleigh’s miniature version of the iconic Hollywood sign will remain in place, but it certainly adds a bit of character to an otherwise perplexing miniature mountain on Hillsborough Street.
Update
I received a few requests for high resolution versions of the images here for desktop backgrounds. Here are a few, including one not originally in the post, above. All are sized 1600 x 1067.
Raleighwood Sign on City-Blox
You can also order this as a miniature 2″x3″ mounted print from City-Blox too.
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11/18/2010
jeez raleigh. how’d you get so cool?! thank you to whoever did this. LOVE IT.
11/18/2010
Thats pretty neat. How tall are the letters? I haven’t seen the mountain so its hard to scale in my mind.
11/18/2010
Awesome. I love how they scaled the letters so a picture like the second one makes the “mountain” look so much bigger.
11/18/2010
Love it. How have I missed this? I drive past this mound every morning. Will definitely look tomorrow morning. Thanks for posting.
11/18/2010
I’ve always thought they should do that on the hill overlooking Crabtree Valley Mall. (Where the Crossroads restaurant was.) It can be seen from two or three approaches.
11/18/2010
The first use of Raleighwood that I know of was in the name of a great vintage store called Raleighwood Palms. I haven’t been back to Raleigh since 1980 so don’t know how long it lasted or if it’s still there. It was over near an art house/revival theater, away from campus, Glenwood maybe?
11/18/2010
Whoah! That is awesome and hilarious. I gotta go check it out before it gets taken down. Whoever did that should be given an ex post facto public art grant.
11/18/2010
That Dirt Mound is unsightly and was intentionaly put there by the owner of the land as a why to protest City of Raleigh Zoning Policies. I’m glad that someone found a creative use for the mound…
11/18/2010
Do we know WHO did this? Sneaky or planned?
11/18/2010
Soooo Cool! I love an artistic protest… you guys don’t miss anything.. good job!!!
11/18/2010
Thanks for putting this up! Looks great!
11/18/2010
I have a feeling it must have been Joseph Carnevale (the barrel monster artist). Or at least I hope so, heh.
11/18/2010
Fantastic!!!!!!! Yea!!!!!
11/19/2010
Wow, this is so cool!!
11/19/2010
Maybe the city should put something this up permanently on the ugly mound of dirt behind the stage at the new downtown amphitheater. After all, it looks like that pile o’ mud is there for good.
Seriously what a great idea and even better execution. Well done!
11/19/2010
darn that bulldozed street… the old house shows and parties down there were top notch… and no injuries resulted from climbing the radio tower.
11/19/2010
Durham is still cooler
11/20/2010
Here is another link to a photo I took of it tonight. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=36924497&l=4bf8c8e1d6&id=39601163
11/20/2010
Nice shot man! How was the climb up the slippery slope?
11/20/2010
@raleighboy… I’ll tell you, if you do plan to scale the mound to get a better view, don’t do it on a night with a lot of dew on the grass. It was quite slippery. Lesson learned, jeans in the wash.
11/22/2010
Look what I made:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1160.snc4/150252_500634550165_755975165_7695022_90728_n.jpg
11/22/2010
@Charles Boyer: Great idea! I think that the mound behind the amphitheatre is permanent…as a buffer from road noise to the stage. I totally agree that putting this sign on top of it would certainly improve the looks of it. (Or heck, at least plant some decorative plants.)
11/22/2010
haha Lyria — this is too funny!
11/23/2010
The sign should be huge, though. L.A. can suck it.
11/24/2010
WOW ,THANKS
11/30/2010
Yeah, no worries!
11/30/2010
Holy shit. You should sell prints of this. And t-shirts. And coffee mugs. :)
12/20/2010
Sure hate that the sign is gone; emphemeral art lingers in the mind’s eye, tho.