The iconic sign atop the former home of V.I.P Records — perhaps the most famous record store in hip hop history — has been the subject of much contention lately, as a local landmarking process moved forward without involving the man who built the legacy.

“That sign is actually very valuable to me and my legacy,” owner Kelvin Anderson said.

The 20-foot-tall, Googie-style sign gained international fame when it was featured in the video for Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” from his 1993 debut album “Doggystyle.”

The Long Beach rapper is one of many hip hop greats who got their start at V.I.P., including Nate Dogg, Warren G and others who grew up in the central Long Beach neighborhood.

Evolution of the sign

The sign itself already existed in some form when Anderson’s brother Cletus first opened the store in 1978. Anderson, who bought the store from his brother the following year, says the sign belonged to the business that preceded V.I.P. — Whistler Liquor — which explains why the man on the sign is whistling.

Using Whistler’s original sign as a base, he turned it into a symbol reflective of his own business, painting the letters V.I.P. at the top with a black vinyl record at the center, complete with blinking neon lights that gave it a spinning effect.

The record store and the man behind it served as a haven for local youth during a turbulent time in Long Beach history, when gang violence was on the rise and crime was reaching new highs.

The sign has undergone about a dozen minor changes over the years, but the original style remains.

It was sometime in the mid-1990s, after fans from across the globe started calling in orders and stopping by while on vacation, that Anderson added the words “World Famous” to it. He also changed the skin tone of the whistling man from white to black.

The sign, mounted atop a one-story building on Pacific Coast Highway, has since become synonymous with West Coast rap culture.

Who wants it landmarked?

The process to landmark the sign was initiated partly out of fear that Anderson would remove it when he closed shop in December 2015, according to an application submitted that month by the building’s owner. Anderson owns the trademark and trade fixtures for the sign, but he does not own the building.

It was around that same time Anderson listed the sign for sale on eBay, with a starting bid of $50,000. He said he removed the listing after a city representative asked him to work with local officials to keep the sign in Long Beach — though he was unaware an application to landmark it had already been submitted.

A local law, passed in August 2015, allows any interested party to apply for Long Beach historic landmark status; the owner’s consent is not required.

At least a dozen other cities, including Los Angeles and Pasadena, have similar laws on the books, according to Deputy City Attorney Linda Vu.

To date, Planning Officer Christopher Koontz said there are just over 120 local landmarks, including at least two signs: the “Dolly Varden Hotel” sign and the “Fly DC Jets” sign.

A city-commissioned study, completed in April 2016, found the V.I.P. Records sign to be of cultural and historic significance to Long Beach, and therefore eligible for landmark status.

But the building owner, Offer Grinwald, asked the city to place the application on hold after relations between him and his tenant became strained. Grinwald did not return calls for comment.

The process remained in a holding pattern until early this month, when Anderson started circulating a petition that sought support to preserve the sign for display in an African-American arts and music museum. It was then that a city worker initiated next steps in the process.

“The city had been sitting on this for a very long time, so we reopened the file and scheduled it for the next step, which would have been a hearing,” Koontz said.

A few days later, Anderson received notice that a hearing before the Cultural Heritage Commission had been scheduled for April 10, and that’s when the tone of the petition changed to a campaign to “Stop the illegal preservation of World Famous VIP Records sign.”

Clearing up the confusion

The landmark process has since been halted after Anderson met with Mayor Robert Garcia this week.

“The confusion has been cleared up,” V.I.P. branding president Shirin Senegal said, shortly after the meeting.

And Garcia, who did not know Anderson had been left out, said the city intends to support Anderson, or “Pops” as he is known locally.

“Mr. Anderson has given so much to the community, and we are here to assist and work together,” the mayor said.

Koontz said the city removed the item from the April 10 agenda, though he explained Long Beach could reinitiate the process if Anderson wants.

“Even though there was all this disagreement, I think we have the same goal,” he said. “This man built a legacy and a piece of Long Beach’s history, and we want to think about how that can live on into the future.”

Senegal said during the meeting with Garcia that she and Anderson agreed to keep the sign in Long Beach.

“We’d like to restore it, and reposition it, maybe in a new place like a restaurant or a museum,” she said.

Anderson envisions it as an homage to African-American music and creative arts, ideally in the same neighborhood he’s worked in and lived all his life.

“It’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears … and I see no benefit to me if it’s landmarked on a building that belongs to someone else. Maybe we could secure it for V.I.P. and turn it into a museum.”

If it does ultimately achieve historic landmark status, it would be the first African-American landmark in Long Beach, Senegal said.

Councilman Dee Andrews, who represents the district the shop resided in, has said he would like to see the sign remain in Central Long Beach.

“It’s an image that represents a positive beacon for the community,” said Andrews’ chief of staff John Edmond. “It’s a flagship at the heart of the 6th District.”

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to explain that the local landmark application has been removed from the Cultural Heritage Commission’s April 10 agenda.