Angelenos woke up to a surprise on New Year's Day. It seems that while most of the world was toasting 2017 by watching Mariah Carey “perform,” or looking for that New Year’s kiss, a lone vandal hoofed it up to the Hollywood sign and altered it to read “Hollyweed.”
Security footage obtained by the LAPD shows the suspect hanging tarps over the landmark’s Os, changing them to look like lowercase Es. “So the sign now reads ‘Hollyweed,’” Sargent Guy Juneau of the LAPD Security Services division told the Los Angeles Times. The footage showed that the culprit used the sign's built-in ladders in order to scale the Os and commit the act of rebellion.
According to CBS, there are no leads yet. If and when the vandal is apprehended, he or she will face misdemeanor trespassing charges. Many are connecting the vandalism to California’s recent legalization of marijuana, which took effect on November 9, a day after voters approved marijuana for recreational use in the state.
This isn’t the first time this has happened. The Los Angeles Times reports that a similar prank occurred on New Year’s Day in 1976. That year, small-scale possession of marijuana was changed from a felony to a misdemeanor with the passing of the Moscone Act.