One of Hollywood’s most historic hotels, the Roosevelt at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. is being targeted by the city in a lawsuit for erecting and maintaining a series of illegal supergraphic signs on the building’s exterior.

A supergraphic sign is a large advertising sign, usually made of vinyl, which is stretched across the side of a building, often covering windows.　The supergraphics and sign structures at the Roosevelt Hotel also allegedly obstructed ingress and egress and interfered with ventilation openings. 　

The civil enforcement action filed by Assistant City Attorney Jose Egurbide and Deputy City Attorney Capri Maddox　alleges that, since at least 2008, the signs were erected without required permits, approvals and inspections, constituting a public nuisance in violation of the zoning, building and fire codes.　

“This is another action brought by the city attorney’s office to try to get all the parties involved in outdoor advertising in the city of L.A. to comply with the applicable laws and codes,” Assistant City Attorney Egurbide said.

The outdoor advertising signs in the lawsuit were supergraphics owned and operated by In Plain Sight Media, Inc.　The Roosevelt and co-defendants face potential civil penalties of up to $5,000 per location for each day an illegal supergraphic was in place.　The complaint also alleges that the Roosevelt did not have permits for any of the supergraphic and off-site signs erected on the walls of the hotel and ignored multiple written notices from both the Los Angeles Fire Department and the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety ordering that the signs be removed.

Operators of the hotel are currently on probation for failing to maintain the hotel’s fire warning system.

The city waited three years to file the lawsuit (they allege the hotel’s noncompliance since 2008), because of a pending federal lawsuit that was resolved on Sept. 21, Egurbide said. The Roosevelet was challenging the city’s special use district, and the case was subsqequently dismissed. The Roosevelt and all other parties named in the suit have 30 days from the date of the filing to comply.

The suit is the ninth civil enforcement action filed by the City Attorney’s Office against outdoor advertising companies and property owners for erecting illegal, non-permitted supergraphic signs within the city.