Recently Dead

On January 1, 1976, Cal State Northridge art major Daniel N Finegood, with three friends and $50-worth of fabric, altered the Los Angeles Hollywood sign to read "Hollyweed" in honor of California instating a new relaxed marijuana law that day. It was also his project for a class assignment on scale. The outlaw "environmental sculpture," as he called it, earned him an A, made his parents proud, was seen all over the world, inspired copycats, and eventually led to a fence and closed-circuit surveillance system around the landmark. Finegood, who resented being called a vandal, died Monday of multiple myeloma at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. He was 52. Last year, David Batterson and Mark Giles wrote a song,"Hollyweed USA," about Finegood and his handiwork. (LA Times)

Related entries:

1. Recently Dead: Joyce "Dottie" Rambo, gospel singer and songwriter...
2. Recently Dead: Glendale, California, ice cream shop proprietor, Irvine...
3. Recently Dead: Cartoonist Ted Key, whose "Hazel" comic strip...
4. Recently Dead: Music publisher Gaetano Oteri, the father of...
5. Recently Dead: Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the woman convicted two...