I Love Simi
Greg Duncan sent us this large scale geekery – the Simi Valley Smiley and I Love Simi Heart. Greg says:
The smiley is very visible from the freeway and one of the first things you see as you drive into Simi. You can’t help but smile when you see it (and after driving SoCal freeways you NEED to smile)
Go sightseeing with Google Maps!
If not for the outdatedness, this could be really cool for couples. Email them an url, and get a marriage proposal seen from space.
The poster above is correct–the picture is quite outdated.
The two symbols are either cut with a weedwacker or mower. Perhaps they are simply trampled into the wild grass on the hill–I do not know for sure. Indeed it is nice to a smiling face when one drives into Simi from L.A. County through the Santa Susanna pass.
Were it not for the leaves on the trees right now, I believe I might be able to see the heart side of the hill from the window above the desk where I am typing this.
Here are a couple of links to some pics I took during the Simi Valley fires in October of 2003. The nighttime pic was taken with a telephoto lens out the window of my home office. The dinginess in one of the photos is due to smoke, of course.
Simi Fire At Night
Hill on Fire
You’d just have to plan a few years ahead.
Here’s a short news story about the Simi Smiley (written just after the Simi fires IWT posted about). Contains a short history about how the Smiley came about…
Happy face still appears in Simi http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/sv/article/0,1375,VCS_239_2397895,00.html
The Happyface and Heart are burned into the hillside with a weed and grass killer, from my understanding. The intent was to make it a landmark, so development of the scenic land would be stopped, or at least slowed. I personally like the Happyface side.