Residents of Hollywood, California woke up on New Year’s Day to a prank in which the Hollywood sign was changed by 30-year-old artist, Zachary Fernandez, to “Hollyweed”.

At 3:00 a.m. on Jan. 1, Fernandez was out altering the sign, using tarps to reconstruct the “O’s” as ‘E’s”. The Los Angeles Police department caught him on surveillance but could not manage to identify Fernandez.

A few days later, he turned himself into the police and received a mild trespassing charge. Currently, he is preparing for a trial set for Feb. 16.

“Yeah, I broke the rules, but I broke it with good spirit and good intentions. It was just to bring light and positivity and happiness,” said Fernandez over a phone interview.

Although he is now in trouble for violating the law, Fernandez succeeded in reaching his goal. In a matter of minutes, social media users of Hollywood spread images of the new sign. Social media referred to the prank as, “a great start to the new year.”

From all the publicity, social media has created several memes based off the Hollywood sign. These memes involve users photoshopping the sign to say anything they want as a comical joke. Memes following this pattern include “Berniewood Have Won” and “Pineapple Doesn’t Go On Pizza.”

However, the Los Angeles Police Department isn’t laughing. Councilmen David Ryu explained, “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.”

Furthermore, Fernandez’s prank was not the first time the Hollywood sign was edited. In 1976, Danny Finegood and three of his college mates used dark fabric to change the letters of the sign, similar to Fernandez.
To help pay for the legal fees from the prank, Fernandez launched an online shop on Jan.15. T-shirts priced over $100 that include the “Hollyweed” name are on sale on his website.