Vandal alters iconic Hollywood sign to read 'Hollyweed'

Residents in Los Angeles woke up on the first day of 2017 to find someone had vandalised the iconic Hollywood sign to read ‘Hollyweed’.

The vandal is believed to have climbed the 13.7 metre high letters, using black and white sheets to cover portions of the Os to make them look like Es.

Sergeant Guy Juneau, from the LAPD, told the LA Times a “lone individual” climbed the Mount Lee letters using their in-built ladders.

He said it was likely the work of “a thrill seeker”.

Police will be treating the incident as a misdemeanour trespassing, but Sgt. Juneayu said they have no suspects.

The black sheets used on both letters had a peace symbol and a love heart drawn across them, with the words 'tribute' and 'Jesus' visible.

Photos shared to social media show authorities have already begun to restore the sign to its former glory.

The act may have been a celebration of the legalisation of recreational marijuana, which Californians voted for on November 8 

Perhaps not coincidentally, the same lettering change to the sign was made exactly 41 years ago, when a California law relaxing penalties for marijuana use took effect.

That alteration turned out to be the work of a college art student, one Danny Finegood.

Along with friends, he later returned to the sign on Easter Day 1976 to make it read "Holywood," and they changed it again in 1990 to read "Oil War" in protest of the Persian Gulf conflict.

Finegood's original handiwork, which he considered an act of environmental sculpture, was done for an art class project, the LA Times reported.

Using $50 in sheets and ropes, he and three friends made the change - and Finegood received an "A" from his art teacher.

But while he might have inspired the latest act of hillside mischief, Finegood cannot be blamed for it. He died in 2007, aged 52.