Today in 1814, the incorporation of the city of Cleveland, Ohio.
There’s a famous sign on the top of a building so that people flying in airplanes can see the message “Welcome to Cleveland.”
The only catch is, that sign’s not actually anywhere near Cleveland.
This rooftop sign is in Milwaukee.
There’s a building in the city’s Bay View neighborhood that used to be a theater, and for many years it’s been home to photographer, artist and prankster Mark Gubin.
The building is right along the flight path for many of the planes going in and out of Milwaukee’s airport.
Back in 1978, Gubin and his assistant were watching and listening to all those planes flying in and out of the city, and the assistant said it would be nice if someone put a sign on the roof welcoming these travelers to Milwaukee .
Gubin had a flash of inspiration; he’d thought of something that would be even better.
He got a roller and some white paint, went up to the roof and wrote in big block letters “WELCOME TO CLEVELAND.”
Gubin said this misdirection was just for fun, that “we need some kind of humor. Something that makes people smile a little bit.”
And people have definitely gotten the joke over the years, though other people have been thrown by it.
Concerned air travelers have pushed the call button over and over to ask their flight attendants why they were about to land in the wrong city!
Gubin has a letter that came from the president of Milwaukee’s city council, telling him that the sign was causing “outrage and panic.”
The letter also said that the city wasn’t taking any action against him, so the sign stayed up.
Every so often it gets a fresh coat of paint and a fresh round of attention.
Occasionally, it also gets some imitation: while Milwaukee has reportedly barred any new misleading signs like Gubin’s, there was a story in 2021 about a guy in Sydney, Australia, who’d gone up to his rooftop and painted a sign that read “WELCOME TO PERTH.”
Today in 2021, two brothers from Vietnam, both performing acrobats, went up the stairs outside St. Mary’s Cathedral in Girona, Spain, in an unusual way.
And in doing so, one brother set the world record for most consecutive stairs climbed while balancing a person – his brother – on their head.
For a record like that you really have to take a balanceed approach.
‘Welcome to Cleveland’ sign’s 15 minutes of fame lasts 37 years (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Brothers reclaim record for climbing stairs with one balanced on other’s head (UPI)
