Lighting The Way At Coliseum

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Like many motorists driving the 110 freeway, Pervaiz Lodhie noticed how the marquee sign at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum had deteriorated over the years, its messages dimmed by burned-out bulbs and barely visible lettering.

Unlike most motorists, Lodhie, president of LEDtronics Inc., a Torrance manufacturer of light emitting diode bulbs, could do something about it. He contacted the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and offered to donate LED bulbs to enliven the sign.

“This is an iconic marquee on a key north-south transportation corridor that connects the central business district and the port,” Lodhie said. “And yet, since the (1984) Olympics, I’ve seen the sign deteriorate in light quality, consistency and brightness.”

The commission quickly accepted the offer, and LEDtronics replaced the 160 fading fluorescent tube lights on the 3,000-square-foot sign with LED lights. Not only does the sign, with its new red, white and blue background and blue lettering, glow more brightly, it also saves energy.

“With some quick and dirty math, the freeway sign is consuming almost 300 kilowatt hours less per day – nearly a 57 percent reduction in consumption,” said Robert Joyner, head of the commission’s stadium operations. That translates into roughly $20,000 in annual savings on the Coliseum’s power bill.

A preservationist might raise an eyebrow that the sign does not have the same red, yellow and blue-green light tubes and golden lettering it did before, but that suits Lodhie, a Pakistani emigrant, just fine.

“I feel glad at what a bit of new technology can do to lift up one’s civic pride and to affirm one’s belief in the American dream,” he said.

– Howard Fine

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Howard Fine
Howard Fine is a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles Business Journal. He covers stories pertaining to healthcare, biomedicine, energy, engineering, construction, and infrastructure. He has won several awards, including Best Body of Work for a single reporter from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers and Distinguished Journalist of the Year from the Society of Professional Journalists.