The Holywood hills in Co Down could get its own iconic sign like Hollywood in Los Angeles

From an advertisement for real estate to iconic landmark - the famed Hollywood sign in Los Angeles turns 100 on Friday.

Tourists flock to see the biggest star in the Californian neighbourhood.

Hollywood in Co Wicklow, just outside Dublin, meanwhile is seeing a boom in tourism since it erected its own sign in the hills there - but Holywood in Co Down? The one with the one ‘L’ in its spelling.

Well the story goes that two years ago, it was going to get its very own iconic sign in the surrounding hills with 40ft high white letters on a 300ft long billboard like the one in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

That turned out to be an April Fools joke but it looks like the Co Down town may now get the last laugh.

Local Councillor Linzi McLaren certainly thinks the idea “has legs” and she wants to gauge reaction to the prospect of a sign big enough for tourists coming in the cruise ships to see as they sail into Belfast.

She said: “We’re really in the digital age now where everyone wants to take a selfie, they want to check in somewhere, and I’m imagining if I was sailing into Belfast harbour and seeing that sign up in the hills, I actually think it would look very impressive”.

Cllr McLaren believes erecting a replica of the iconic sign would certainly boost tourism as it has done for Hollywood in Co Wicklow.

It has less than 100 people but it has already seen the number of visitors to its village increase since it put up its sign in the hills there.

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