Early Sunday morning on January 1, Los Angeles residents woke up to find their most famous landmark had been given a very visible edit. Sometime in the dark hours before dawn, an artist scaled the rugged terrain of Mount Lee and strategically draped tarps over the 45-foot letters. The iconic white text no longer promoted a historic real estate development or the local film industry. It simply read “Hollyweed” for the entire world to see.
Security Cameras Capture A Lone Figure In Black
Security footage from the restricted hillside shows exactly how the visual trick was pulled off in the dark. At roughly 3:00 AM on Sunday morning, a lone individual dressed entirely in tactical black gear made his way through the thick brush. The trespasser successfully bypassed the protective fencing that surrounds the historic site. Once inside the perimeter, the suspect was captured scaling the ladders during the early hours to reach the back of the landmark itself.
The artist, Zachary Cole Fernandez, carried specialized equipment up the mountain to execute his vision without causing permanent damage. He used white and black tarps to change the visual shape of the letters rather than relying on paint or destructive tools. By strategically placing black fabric over the sides of the two 45-foot-tall “O” letters and running a white strip across their centers, they perfectly mimicked a lowercase “e” from a distance.
This non-destructive approach required precise measurements and a solid understanding of forced perspective. Fernandez had to calculate exactly how the fabric would look to observers miles away in the city basin. Park rangers and city officials eventually noticed the draped material as the sun rose over the hills, and workers managed to safely remove the tarps and restore the original spelling by 11:15 AM that same day.
A Calculated Tribute to Danny Finegood
The visual joke was not a completely original idea born in a vacuum. Fernandez intended this act as a direct homage to a local art student who pulled off the exact same feat decades earlier. On January 1, 1976, a Cal State Northridge student named Danny Finegood executed an identical alteration on New Year’s Day using just $50 worth of simple curtains. Finegood staged his version as part of a college art class project, earning an “A” for his creative effort.
Finegood went on to alter the text several more times over the years before his death in 2007. He changed it to “Ollywood” in 1987 to protest the positive treatment of Marine Colonel Oliver North during the Iran-Contra scandal. He struck again in 1990, hanging plastic to form “Oil War” in opposition to the first Gulf War. Because Finegood is no longer around, the 2017 incident introduced a completely new prankster to the city.
The timing for this modern recreation carried significant political weight for California residents. Just weeks earlier in November 2016, roughly 57.1 percent of the state electorate chose to approve Proposition 64 at the ballot box. This landmark legislation officially succeeded in legalizing recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older across the state. By waiting until the new year to strike, Fernandez mirrored the exact cultural shift that inspired Finegood’s original project forty-one years prior.
Fernandez later shared the specific details of his preparation during an exclusive interview explaining his methods and motives. He spent hours researching the terrain and mapping out his approach to ensure the stunt would go exactly as planned.
The Artist Surrenders Following Tourist Frenzy
The immediate aftermath of the stunt generated a large response from tourists and frustrated city officials. Following a week of intense media speculation and an active police investigation, Fernandez decided to step forward and take responsibility. On January 9, he voluntarily surrendered to the Los Angeles Police Department alongside his attorney. Authorities formally booked him, and he was quickly released after posting a $1,000 bond.
While the public largely viewed the stunt as a harmless bit of fun, local leaders saw a dangerous drain on civic resources. Stunts of this nature force valuable public safety personnel away from genuine emergencies taking place across the city. Officers had to spend their morning responding to the location, securing the perimeter, and managing the sudden influx of crowds trying to snap photos of the altered text.
“Pranks of this nature deplete the resources of our valuable public safety personnel, in both responding to the prank and in responding to the increased crowds and copycat attempts that these incidents generate.” – Los Angeles City Councilman David Ryu
To understand why city officials take these incidents so seriously, you have to look at the physical realities of the site. The letters sit on a steep, unstable slope filled with hazardous brush and wildlife.
- The hillside terrain is extremely steep and prone to dangerous rockslides.
- Emergency rescue operations on Mount Lee cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.
- Unauthorized climbers often damage the fragile native vegetation.
- The letters themselves feature sharp edges and high vertical drops.
Fernandez told reporters that he never expected the situation to get as big as it did. His primary goal was to bring a smile to people’s faces and spark a conversation about the recent legislative changes, not to trigger a citywide security review.
Vulnerabilities Exposed on Mount Lee
The success of the New Year’s operation immediately raised questions about how a high-profile landmark could be compromised so easily. The Hollywood Sign Trust manages the maintenance and physical security of the site, working in conjunction with local law enforcement. The perimeter is guarded by an array of roughly 35 sophisticated security cameras, alongside motion sensors and regular patrols by park rangers.
Despite this heavy surveillance net, the trespasser managed to slip in, spend significant time modifying the letters, and escape entirely unseen until the sun came up. Chris Baumgart, chairman of the Trust, addressed these concerns directly during statements to the Los Angeles Times regarding security vulnerabilities. He explained that a surveillance system acts like a chain, and they must now determine exactly where their defenses failed so they can upgrade the infrastructure.
The physical scale of the site makes comprehensive monitoring quite difficult.
| Landmark Feature | Physical Specifications |
|---|---|
| Letter Height | 45 feet tall |
| Original Construction | Late 1923 |
| Security Monitoring | Approximately 35 active cameras |
The ongoing cat and mouse game between artists and authorities seems destined to continue. As long as those nine giant letters sit on the side of a hill, someone will inevitably try to change what they say.
Legal Consequences and Public Reaction
When a person messes with a protected civic landmark, the legal hammer tends to drop fast. The LAPD made it very clear from the morning of January 1 that the suspect would face consequences once apprehended. The City Attorney’s office views the site not just as an art installation, but as a critical piece of city infrastructure connected to emergency communications towers.
Fernandez managed to avoid harsher felony vandalism charges because his methods intentionally preserved the underlying structure of the sign. He did not cut metal, spray paint over the white finish, or break any of the foundational supports. Still, a misdemeanor trespassing charge carries real weight, and authorities hoped his swift booking would deter future copycats from attempting similar climbs.
- Dispatch patrol units to secure the base of the Mount Lee trail system.
- Coordinate with park rangers to safely remove the draped fabric from the letters.
- Review all available night vision and motion-activated camera footage.
The public reaction proved entirely split down the middle. Longtime residents often view these stunts as a charming part of the city’s eccentric character, while property owners in the adjacent neighborhoods strongly condemn the traffic and chaos they bring. Whenever a visual stunt goes viral online, extra vehicles flood the narrow residential streets of Beachwood Canyon trying to get a closer look.
The temporary transformation of those famous white letters gave the world a brief moment of levity to start the year. While the tarps only stayed up for a few hours, the images they created will live on in digital archives forever. The incident proves that even the most carefully guarded monuments remain vulnerable to a clever idea and a bit of fabric. As security improves on the mountain, future artists will just have to get more creative. The #HollywoodSign will always stand as a blank canvas for those daring enough to climb, turning a quiet morning into a memorable #HollyweedPrank.
