It's unclear how serious members of the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission were back in 1978 when they designated Daniel Van Meter's Tower of Wooden Pallets a historic monument.

A commission member, Bob Winter, quipped that "maybe we were drunk" when they recognised the seven-metre-high stack of crumbling, termite-infested Schlitz beer pallets. Mr Winter called it "the funniest thing we ever did."

Van Meter's creation became Monument No. 184, taking its place on the same registry as the Hollywood sign and Union Station. Van Meter died at the age of 87 in 2000 and his family took over the lot in the San Fernando Valley. Now his heirs, who never liked the tower and were often at odds with its eccentric creator, want to clear the land of feral cats, strange plants and the tower itself so a developer can put up 98 apartments.