SPOKANE, Wash. — It may be the most beloved graffiti in all of Spokane and the public display of affection is disappearing right before our eyes.
Many Spokane residents want to know when Billy met Lisa and if their love story ever lasted.
Their names are painted in red and green on the grain silos and elevator on North Madelia that have towered over Spokane's East Central neighborhood for decades.
Hundreds of people living in Spokane commented on the KREM 2 Facebook page in the midst of our search for the real Billy and Lisa.
After combing through many tales, we found a common denominator: a man who claims he is the son of the "Lisa" many Spokane residents would love to get to know.
Since the 1930s, the grain elevators have stood in Spokane. But age is catching up to them, which means they can no longer be used for storage.
Countless people who drive past the silos each day to get to work are sad to see the structures go.
Many are also asking: what happened to Billy and Lisa?
A Spokane man named Damian Treat claims he has the answer.
"What happened was he had screwed up and he was in the doghouse, mom was giving them a hard time, you know to get back in so he decided to try and pull off a grand gesture," said Treat, who says he is Lisa's son. "He borrowed some rappelling equipment from his buddy, he climbed up the grain silo, he latched on, he repelled down the side and he painted it."
"People are heartbroken that they are not together. Stuff doesn't always work out," he added. "Even though they are not together, they still care about each other."
Treat said Billy and Lisa met in the late 1990s and Billy painted the famous public display of affection in the early 2000s.
Others claim the display of love was painted long before that.
"If someone can pull up a picture of it painted before I say it's painted, be my guest, prove me wrong, tell me he lied about it, but I mean, this is the way I know the story," Treat said.
He said Billy is not his dad but is his little brother's father.
As for Lisa, Treat claims she's not really the romantic type so the gesture was not the best way to win her back.