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Scott
Olsen, 22, of Empire Erectors
PHOTO:
Fiona Davis
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Times Square rises 300 feet above the the "crossroads
of the world," where Broadway and Seventh Avenue meet. Best
known as the building where the New Year's Eve ball drops, the
17-story structure is covered with enormous billboards. Ever wonder
how they get there? Ask Scott Olsen.
Wearing overalls and a harness, Olsen, 22, gazes down at the crowd
below. From his vantage point, the cars become as tiny as ants
on the ground as the scaffold rises higher and higher. "I'm from
New Jersey, and I feel especially excited with a job like this
because Times Square is the center of everything. So, sometimes
I'm on the top of everything," he says.
For
the past year and a half, Olsen has installed hundreds of billboards
in New York City. Only a few of them are as big as three 2,475
square foot billboards he put up one week in January for Souza
Tequila. Last year, just around the corner from his current job,
Olsen spent three months installing the metallic frame for the
Nasdaq stock market electronic billboard.
"In
case of an accident, we can control the drop, breaking down like
a climber."
—
Scott Olsen
Olsen,
who works with a team of three to five men, is not afraid of falling.
"This is a pretty safe activity," he points out. "Every guy is
well trained and we are tied up to the lifeline, a rope independent
from the scaffold. In case of an accident, we can control the
drop, breaking down like a climber."
Olsen
got his job after joining the Sheet Metal Work Sign Hangers union,
where he is enrolled in a five-year course. "The union school
teaches us important things, such as how to keep balance up high
and to read blue prints," he says. When he started in the profession,
Olsen made $9 per hour. After the course, he will make $28 per
hour.
When
work conditions become too dangerous due to wind, rain or snow,
Olsen and his colleagues perform maintenance on the equipment
or go shopping. Unfortunately, that means Olsen sometimes ends
up working on weekends to make up for the lost time.
Proud
of his job, Olsen sees some of the billboards he has erected when
he watches TV. ABC and MTV have studios in Times Square and the
stations sometimes use the billboards as background. "It's nice
to tell my friends: — 'Look, I put up that billboard!' "
LINKS
Times
Square Business Improvement District
Artkraft Strauss
Spectacolor
BACK TO TOP
COVER: One Times Square
PHOTO:
Fiona Davis
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The
NASDAQ sign is just one of the Times Square spectaculars
Olsen has worked on.
PHOTO:
Angela Pimenta
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- Initially,
sign painters (called "wall dogs") painted signs onto
the sides of buildings. The process usually took
two months. Now, most billboards are produced digitally,
printed onto vinyl panels, and unrolled at their intended
sites. Stringing up the billboard takes only a few
hours.
- In
1903, the first elaborate electrical display
appeared in Times Square. Dubbed a "spectacular,"
the sign advertised Trimble's Whiskey.
- In
the 1960s, the first Times Square signs containing
computer controlled message centers were erected.
The latest spectacular is the NASDAQ sign on 4
Times Square. The 120-foot sign is the largest
LED display in the world and cost more than $37
million to build.
- The
signs in Times Square are the most photographed man-made
spectacle in America. Nearly 100 million snapshots
are taken each year.
- One
Times Square, between Broadway and 7th Avenue,
takes in $2.5 million each year in office rent from
its 17 floors. The rent for the signs outside the
building brings in over three times that amount.
- The
design and construction costs for a Times Square spectacular
range from $1 million up to $20 million. One
spectacular takes six to nine months to complete.
Sources
"The
Century in Times Square," from the archives of the New
York Times; Times Square Business Improvement District;
Michael Forte, CEO of Spectacolor; "Signs and Wonders:
The Spectacular Marketing of America," by Tama Starr.
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The
crew works its way up to the top of One Times Square.
PHOTO:
Fiona Davis
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