Absolutely love this story. If you live in LA, there’s a sign you pass every day that, as it turns out, is a giant forgery. On the 110, there are two exits for Route 5. Unfortunately the exit for Route 5 North is only marked with a number 5 in a blue and red shield. For folks new to the area, this meant a difficult guess that, if wrong, guaranteed a trip to traffic hell.

Artist Richard Ankrom had enough of this and actually designed his own sign addendum, made out of aluminum, and attached it to the real sign, as a guerrilla edit. He sewed his own CalTrans uniform, brought his own ladder, climbed on the sign (in the middle of the day, mind you) and hung his sign.

Where it remained for 8 years.

CalTrans just removed Ankrom’s edit and replaced it with a brand new sign, this time with 5 North shown properly. Ankrom never did get his sign back, but he gained no small measure of fame and has the satisfaction of having served his community.

Follow this link to read Alissa Walker’s terrific article and see pictures of the sign. Lovely stuff…

– Dave