Old is new again. At least when it comes to the billboard atop Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington.

For the first time in roughly 66 years, an ad for Iron City Beer is being displayed on the Lamar Advertising Co.-managed billboard that overlooks the city.

The ad went up Saturday and will be up for at least 12 months.

“In 1921 the large sign was built atop Mt. Washington overlooking the city of Pittsburgh. Since then it has become a landmark for the city and has displayed some of the city’s most well known companies,” Lamar Vice President Stan Geier said in prepared remarks. “Lamar is thrilled to partner with legendary Pittsburgh Brewing Company/Iron City Beer as the next great company to grace the iconic Mt. Washington sign that overlooks the city of Pittsburgh.”

According to a detailed write-up on Pittsburgh Brewing Company’s website, Iron City Beer pioneered the billboard from 1938 until the mid-fifties.

The latest billboard design borrows the color scheme of one of the original sign designs of the early 1950s.

Dubbed the “World’s Largest Neon Sign,” the original sign was 650 feet long with each individual letter standing more than 30-feet tall, the brewing company said. It was upgraded in 1940 to feature beer glasses that filled from the bottom and a mechanism that told the time.

The current billboard is roughly half the original size at 226 feet wide.

Ben Butler, a spokesman for Pittsburgh Brewing Co., said Lamar approached the brewing company about advertising on the billboard.

Butler said the brewing company was unaware of the historical significance of the billboard.

“We were previously kind of unaware of how historic the move would be for Pittsburgh Brewing to do that, and Lamar reminded us that, ‘Hey did you know that Pittsburgh Brewing had an Iron City Sign here from 1938 to 1954?’” Butler said. “That was pretty compelling to say, ‘Well, that’s pretty cool,’ and seemed like an interesting opportunity and historic move.”

The city and Lamar have battled in court for years over the billboard, which previously promoted Bayer, Sprint, Alcoa and the National Flag Foundation with an American flag.

It goes back around 90 years, to an agreement between the city & a company to grant a permit for an electronic sign that would provide community messaging and ended in PA Supreme Court. https://t.co/GDSmKZR0KE

— bill peduto (@billpeduto) November 15, 2020

Tim McNulty, spokesman for Mayor Bill Peduto, referred questions about the billboard to Lamar. Dan Gilman, Peduto’s chief of staff, said the city is unable to comment on the billboard “given the pending litigation before the Supreme Court.”

Regarding the pending litigation, Butler said: “We don’t really know that much about the inner workings of the lawsuit. Our philosophy was just, hey, you know, if Lamar says it’s available, if it’s not us, it’s going to be somebody else who takes that spot. Why not position one of the most historic and iconic brands in that spot and do it tastefully and do it in a way that looks nice?”

“Both the Commonwealth Court and the Lower Court have confirmed our legal right to own, operate and change messages on this iconic sign since it was built back in 1921,” Geier said in an email. “We believe the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will uphold the decisions of both the Commonwealth Court and the Lower Court and affirm our right to continue to use this sign.”

Pittsburgh Brewing Co. was established in 1861. It’s one of the oldest breweries in the United States and next year will be celebrating its 160th birthday.

The brewery was long located in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh. Starting in the 1980s, it went through multiple ownership changes and entered bankruptcy in 2005. Cliff Forrest, the founder of Rosebud Mining in Kittanning, bought the business in 2018. Since 2009, Iron City has been brewed in Latrobe, in the facility that formerly brewed Rolling Rock.

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