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New sign at Pat's King of Steaks

The oldest cheesesteak shop upgrades, and thumbs it nose across the street.

For the first time in its 84-year history, Pat's King of Steaks is erecting a sign at the point of its property facing Ninth Street and Passyunk Avenue in South Philly.

When the none-too-subtle sign goes up Thursday, it will face the famous intersection - creating a neon standoff with competitor Geno's Steaks, whose facade glows like an orange sun across the way.

The jeweled crown on the new sign is a smaller likeness of the crown that used to hang at a former Pat's location at 33rd Street and Ridge Avenue. (That crown, shown above, now hangs at Jack's Firehouse in Fairmount.)

Owner Frank Olivieri said the new sign for Ninth and Passyunk was delivered Wednesday morning, but workers discovered that structural issues needed to be addressed.

So the sign, which got a lot of attention from passersby, went back to the signmaker's shop.

Why put one up? Everyone knows where Pat's is by now.

"Just to make them a little crazy," Olivieri said, half-joking, in a pointed reference to the other guys.