An immense Pepsi-Cola sign on the banks of New York’s East River has been declared a historic landmark after 25 years of discussion. The red neon sign was built in 1936 and installed atop a Pepsi bottling plant in an industrial area bordering the East River in Long Island City. The 60 feet high and 120 feet long, its steel and porcelain letters and giant Pepsi bottle have long been part of the view from the East Side of Manhattan. The sign was restored in 1993 after being damaged in a winter storm. Discussions on whether to declare it a landmark began in 1988 and concluded finally with a unanimous vote by the city’s landmark commission.

The sign has appeared in several films, including Steven Spielberg’s ‘Munich’ (2005) with Daniel Craig and Mathieu Kassovitz, and Sydney Pollack’s ‘The Interpreter’ (2005) with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.