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Parking sign is so absurd that mayor (sort of) fixes it within hours

Jennifer Karmon
·Homes Editor
A parking sign outside Linwood Howe Elementary School in Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles.
A parking sign outside Linwood Howe Elementary School in Culver City, a suburb of Los Angeles.
Another sign near school. In the background at left, you can see one down the block, too. (Rob Stemm via Curbed)
Another sign near school. In the background at left, you can see one down the block, too. (Rob Stemm via Curbed)

On Friday, our intrepid friends at Curbed L.A. called the world's attention to an absolutely ludicrous parking sign in Culver City (part of Los Angeles' Westside) that needed about 15 feet of vertical space to get across all its restrictions.

Commenters couldn't believe it was real. One person thought it was Photoshopped; others thought it was an art installation that had fooled people.

The signs say, from the top (though we had to guess about a few of the a.m./p.m. notations and a few hour increments like 8:15 vs. 8:30):

• No parking 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday street cleaning.

• Tow-away school days. No stopping Mon thru Fri 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. School days exceptions. 15 minutes Mon thru Fri 7:30 a.m. thru 8 a.m. School business.

• School days exceptions Mon, Tue, Thu, & Fri. 8 a.m. thru 8:30 a.m. CCUSD student valet service. 2:30-3 p.m. CCUSD permits.

• School days exceptions Mon, Tue, Thu, & Fri. 3 p.m. thru 4 p.m. CCUSD student valet service.

• School days exceptions Wednesdays. 8 a.m. thru 8:30 a.m. CCUSD student valet service. 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. CCUSD permits.

• School days exceptions Wednesdays. 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. CCUSD student valet service. 2:30 p.m.-4 p.m. CCUSD permits.

• Tow-away school days. 1-hour parking Mon thru Fri 4 p.m. thru 6 p.m. Once per day, per district. Dist permits 4 exempt.

• Tow-away. 1-hour parking non-school days. Sun 12:30 p.m. thru Fri 6 p.m. Once per day, per district. No stopping Fri 6 p.m. thru Sun 12:30 p.m. Dist. permit exempt 4.

But within hours, the mayor herself weighed in to call the sign "ridiculous." She said she'd called the traffic engineer and the signs would be taken down right away.

Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells followed up three hours later with a photo proving that the "extra signs [were] removed as of this afternoon":

An improvement ...
An improvement ...

Instagrammer Rob Stemm had posted a nearby, identically absurd sign on Friday, writing: "Don't even think about parking on my street. You'll need a law degree to figure out if you're allowed to park here. #parkingproblems #moneyhungrycity." The Los Angeles Times and several local TV affiliates were pursuing the story.