This is 99% invisible.

I'm Roman Mars.

Downtown Oakland, where we work is beautiful.

But it doesn't cut a very distinct skyline. Sure, there are the cranes down by

the port, and those are pretty famous. But in terms of downtown Oakland proper, there's pretty much

just one building that defines the nighttime skyline.

The Tribune Tower.

It used to be the headquarters of the newspaper, the Oakland Tribune.

The paper moved up the street, so now the tower is an office building. That's producer Avery

Truffelman. The Tribune Tower which happens to be right by our office was the

tallest building in Oakland in the 1920s. It's a 22-story tower topped with a copper-coated pitched mansard roof and a sandy brick

exterior. It's really unique architecture, but that is not why it's the most distinctive

building in Oakland.

It's famous because it says Tribune. not why it's the most distinctive building in Oakland.

It's famous because it says Tribune in gigantic orange-red neon letters on all four sides of the building,

and each side has a neon clock with neon hands.

And it's always on every night, never flickering, rarely

as a letter out.

Because the Tribune Neon has a secret weapon

on the top-top floor of the tower.

Take the elevator to the 20th floor.

There you'll see a door.

...