The way Emmit Aiken tells it, this was his favorite job. Then of course it was his very first job. Now eighty three, he was twenty at the time and very proud to be a part of the building of the famous Hollywood Sign. This is a rare picture of both Emmit Jr. and Sr. at the worksite. Emmit Sr. was responsible for showing his son the ropes. This was just the beginning of a long and fufilling career working with those daring young men of the high trapeze.
Rarely did the heights intimidate them. "It was common to see a man lean way over from ten flights up and yell for a bologna sandwich" recalls Aiken. They were a different breed indeed.You hear that many American Indians did this kind of work. "They did have a special gift for working in the sky" Aiken says with a thick Georgia accent. "It was like a little United Nations" he says glowingly. "The heights were the great leveler. There was not a one predjudice up there. We were all there for one reason and one reason alone, to get that cloud catcher built!"
Aiken was known for his ablity to do real clean welds. "That's Sr." says Aiken. "He was the master welder. He was tough on me too! He'd watch me real close and make sure I got it just right." Because of this special skill with welding, Aiken got requested on many an important job. "They even flew me over there to New York to weld the Guggenheim" he says proudly. "Oh, I've worked on many a job and even done myself some consulting. I am proud of every one of them jobs" he says with a tear welling in his eye. "There is nothing like that feeling of looking up at that building when it's all done and knowing that you had something to do with it, nothing like it".
Nowdays, Aiken can occasionally be seen climbing a ladder to clean leaves off his roof, that's about it. But he will talk to you anytime about his days walking the high girder.
Written by Jennifer for the Daily Nest