The southern horizon of Pittsburgh is looking a little less distinctly representative of the city this week, as the Iron City Beer advertisement featured on the billboard sitting high atop Mount Washington has been replaced.
The sign — a more than 100-year-old city staple that’s visible from the North Shore, Point State Park and other areas — has been used to market different companies over the decades.
This week it has been altered to feature an advertisement for Pennsylvania-based national workers’ compensation, personal injury and Social Security law firm Pond Lehocky Giordano. The firm keeps offices in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lancaster, New Jersey, Alabama, Mississippi and Puerto Rico.
Founded in 2010, the firm is led by founding partners Samuel H. Pond, Jerry M. Lehocky and Thomas J. Giordano Jr.
One of Pittsburgh’s most visible landmarks, the billboard has seen more than one messaging shift in recent years.
The signage was last changed to display Iron City Beer in January 2024. From July 2023 to January 2024, it touted I.C. Light, another of Lawrenceville-based Pittsburgh Brewing Co.’s products. Iron City made a return to the space in 2020 after more than half a century of absence.
Originally constructed in 1921, the billboard space has also highlighted Alcoa, Bayer and The National Flag Foundation over the years.
Online posters active on the r/Pittsburgh subreddit on Monday were predominantly less than enthused with the latest change.
”After the last month of the Steelers ... seems appropriate,” said one commenter.
”I thought it was an advertisement for an amateur French hockey league,” added another.
Others proposed their own ideas for the space:
”I would really like it if the Carnegie Museums or another local art museum (Mattress Factory?) purchased the sign and repurposed it as an artists’ screen. The top of Salesforce Tower in San Francisco and the M+ Museum in Hong Kong have things like this, and they are really nice. And I think it would be a great way to address this thing.”
In 2014, a banner change triggered controversy when Louisiana-based Lamar Advertising, which owns the spot, draped a static 7,200-square-foot advertising banner for Sprint over a 4,500-square-foot electronic sign.
City zoning board of adjustment members maintained at the time that the decision violated a section of the zoning code that states nonconforming signs “may not be enlarged, added or replaced by another nonconforming sign or by a nonconforming use or structure.”
The state Supreme Court in 2021 rejected the city of Pittsburgh’s claims that the billboard was illegal, ending a seven-year battle between the city and Lamar.
First Published: January 14, 2025, 2:19 p.m.
Updated: January 15, 2025, 4:52 p.m.