The Hollywood sign recently came to attention when residents of LA woke up on 1 January to discover that the letters had been changed to read ‘Hollyweed’. But this is far from the first time the world-famous sign has been subject to alteration.
1887: Horace and Daeida Wilcox founded Hollywood as a religious community. Both were prohibitionists, and alcohol was banned.
1923: The original Hollywood sign was put up as an advertisement for a local real estate development.
1991: Social activists changed the sign to ‘Oil War’ in protest to the Gulf War
2010: Environmental activists changed the sign to read ‘Save the Peak’ in protest to the selling of land nearby. The success of the protest was somewhat blighted when the process of changeover led to ‘Save the Pood’ radiating from the California Hills.
2017: The most recent adaptation, a comment on the new law legalising recreational marijuana, is merely the latest addition to a growing list of adaptations made to the blockbuster landmark.
