Carwash Owner Says He Will Alter Sign

After losing a court battle last week to keep his giant Studio City carwash sign, owner Ben Forat has decided to end his fight with City Hall and reduce the 26-foot-tall structure.

“I don’t want to appeal it anymore. I just want to move on,” said Forat, who had vowed to take his fight to appellate court. “It’s just not worth it.”

A judge agreed with city officials’ decision that the sign should be reduced and moved back from the street. The fiberglass hand clutching a yellow sponge with the words “Studio City Hand Car Wash” and a reproduction of a hot pink Corvette on top was erected without a permit two years ago on Ventura Boulevard.

The carwash owner still faces misdemeanor charges of erecting an illegal sign and failing to comply with a city building and safety order, which carry a maximum punishment of a year in county jail and $2,000 in fines. A prosecutor in the city attorney’s office, who hadn’t spoken with Forat since the carwash owner decided to drop his fight, said that, because the illegal sign still stands, the criminal case against him will proceed.

“Whatever the law wants me to do, I’ll do,” Forat said. “I’ll lick my wounds and walk away. This had become a political war. . . . I’m not going to win this. Why beat a dead horse?”