Mexico’s little-known Tepeji municipality in central Mexico is far away from the glitz of Los Angeles, but with its newly built landmark sign, it is close to rivaling (in stature anyway) the iconic symbol of Hollywood.

Atop a hill in the town of Palo Grande, located in the municipality of Tepeji del Río, Hidalgo, officials have built the largest landmark sign in Mexico, according to Mayor Salvador Jiménez Calzadilla. 

At 15 meters tall, the sign’s giant white letters — which read “Tepeji” — are taller than the world-famous “Hollywood” letters by 1.3 meters, say Palo Grande officials.

The letters on the Los Angeles Hollywood sign are each 13.7 meters tall (45 feet), according to a report published in 2021 by the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office.

The Tepeji sign is intended to be the “jewel in the crown” of Jiménez’s tourism strategy. The municipality’s mayor expects the 5.5-million-peso (US $278,000) sign to attract visitors.

The México-Querétaro highway, which connects Mexico City to multiple Mexican states, is one of the most traveled highways in central Mexico. However, Jiménez explained, most of the road’s travelers overlook Tepeji as a tourist attraction. 

Tepeji’s other tourism offerings

Tepeji’s efforts to attract visitors have gone beyond erecting a flashy sign. Officials are also working with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) to renovate and highlight the colonial town’s part of the Camino Real Tierra Adentro (the Royal Inland Road), a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The trade route — which stretched from Mexico City to Santa Fe, New Mexico, between the mid-16th and 19th centuries — was part of the larger Spanish Intercontinental Royal Route, Spain’s global network of roads and maritime routes. 

Other tourist sites located within the municipality of Tepeji include the Parish of Saint Francis of Assisi, its municipal zócalo (the town square), its craft market and municipal markets, the La Josefina textile museum, the Tepeji Cultural Center’s onsite museum and the 18th-century Santiago Apóstol Church. 

In the future, Jiménez says he envisions building an ecotourism walkway in the area displaying the municipality’s giant letters. 

Despite their massive size, neither Tepeji nor Los Angeles managed the Guinness World Record for the tallest landmark sign. That title currently goes to the oasis of Liwa in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 150 kilometers south of Abu Dhabi city, according to the Guinness World Records online site. Liwa’s landmark sign’s letters are each 23.59 meters tall. 

The previous record holder was also located in the UAE: the village of Hatta, located near the Oman border, has a landmark sign with letters measuring 19.28 meters tall.

With reports from La Jornada, Milenio and The National News