If you’re going to mess with people, this is a pretty awesome way to do it.
In 1978, Mark Gubin painted the words “Welcome to Cleveland” in 6 foot lettering on the roof of his house so that people flying into the nearby airport would be sure to see them. That’s a nice thing to do, accept that he doesn’t live in Cleveland, he lives in Milwaukee.
The sign became famous after it was first painted, making headlines in thousands of newspapers and magazines, TV news and even The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Gubin said he was later told a special announcement was made on a regular flight from Denver to Cleveland that made a stopover in Milwaukee.
Every flight, the attendants told passengers that the sign was wrong – they had not missed their stop.
Gubin even received a letter from then-City Council President Ben E. Johnson, informing him that the sign was causing ‘outrage and panic’ for some passengers.
But, he wrote, the city would not be taking any action against Gubin – or the sign.
‘I was in Cleveland not to long ago and I agree with Mr Gubin,’ Johnson wrote. ‘Anybody who wants Cleveland is welcome to it.’
In spite of the “outrage and panic,” no airline or airport has ever complained about the thing either, which legitimately surprises me.