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Guerrilla Public Service 2011

Richard Ankrom · 720.7K views · 2011-08-05 · 10:00

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Overview

Richard Ankrom's account of his 2001 guerrilla project, in which he painted and installed a missing freeway exit sign on a Pasadena freeway. The sign matched official standards and stayed up for years before being discovered.

On Hacker News

HN cites it as the best-known example of a citizen quietly fixing public infrastructure, often in threads on unsanctioned civic repairs.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2018–2025

Topics

Transit, cities & urban planningDocumentaries & storytellingVisual arts, photography & architecture
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freeway signguerrilla public servicecivic hackingpasadenaroad signage

What people said

rezonant · 2025-08 · Recommendation

Guerilla Public Service. If you've not heard of Richard Ankrom who fixed an exit sign on the 110 freeway, check it out. He made a documentary about it (and there are countless other videos on YouTube covering the story). [VIDEO] He did it so well, the modification stayed in place for years. If you can do it right, I say go for it.

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gen3 · 2022-05 · Reference

Reminds me of the story of Richard Ankroms, who installed his own Interstate 5 exit sign. It hung for 8 years. Video of the process: [VIDEO] [LINK]

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drawkbox · 2018-04 · Reference

Reminds me of the "Guerrilla Public Service" vigilante[1][2] from 2001, he added an I-5 sign notification where people commonly missed the exit. [1] [LINK] [2] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Richard Ankrom, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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