Artist who made his own freeway sign to help millions of LA drivers said it was removed without credit
- An American artist helped countless motorists after creating his own road sign
- The stretch of road had an easy-to-miss turn-off
- The sign remained in place for years, but was removed and replaced without the artist’s knowledge
Published on Jul 19, 2024 at 2:58 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Aug 09, 2024 at 4:50 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
An LA artist who helped countless road users after creating and installing his own freeway sign said it was removed and replaced without credit.
Back in 2001, LA motorists using the 110 freeway through the LA basin from Long Beach to Pasadena could very easily miss a turnoff.
As GPS and sat-nav systems weren’t as common back then, motorists would have to rely on road signs to help them get to where they needed to go.
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The lack of signage was a headache for motorists
Which was fine until they were looking for the 1-5 North exit from 110 North. The small tunnel is tucked off to the side and isn’t easy to spot when you’re behind the wheel.
To add to the confusion, there was no sign to alert road users, meaning it wasn’t unusual for motorists to completely miss it and add miles onto their journey. Annoying, right?
It was so annoying to artist and sign-maker Richard Ankrom that he decided to perform a ‘Guerrilla Public Service’ act and make his own sign.
Ankrom spent months planning and designing the sign, making sure to include the existing ‘Interstate 5’ shield emblem but – most importantly – adding the word ‘North’.
Ankrom paid strict attention to detail – as well as making a perfect color match, he even tracked down the specific type of reflectors used on the road sign and persuaded the supplier to let him have some.
The artist did such a good job motorists assumed it was legit
As he was – in his words – performing an act of public service, Ankrom hung his sign in broad daylight dressed as a road repairman, complete with a hard hat and high-visibility vest.
He even disguised his truck to look like it belonged to the California Department of Transportation.
Ankrom got some pals to film the whole process where he could be seen taking his time while installing it.
“I didn’t want to panic and work too fast, because it wouldn’t look normal,” he told The LAnd.
“So I was very conscious of how long I was taking to do it. I was like, ‘OK, slow down, calm down, don’t drop anything.’ I was psyching myself the whole time.”
With the sign in place, Ankrom waited for a response – but there wasn’t one.
His handiwork was so good that motorists assumed it had been installed by the local government.
In fact, it wasn’t until Ankrom decided to leak the story by sharing his video on YouTube that any attention was brought to it.
Even when the story got out, the sign remained in situ until 2009 when it was removed without Ankrom being told and giving him no chance to claim it before it was scrapped.
To add insult to injury California Department of Transportation finally replaced it with its own – that looks an awful lot like the one Ankrom made. Ouch.
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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Across her career she's covered a wide variety of topics, including celebrity, cryptocurrency, politics, true crime and just about everything in between.
