Unnoticed South London sign directing drivers to California finally corrected - after 15 years

A road sign that went almost unnoticed in South London pointing to destinations in the USA has finally been corrected - after standing for nearly 15 years. Many locals commuting past the puzzling sign - which indicates which lane to be in to get to Malibu or Laurel Canyon in sunny California - say they never even noticed it.

But the road sign, which locals believe was altered around 2010, has now finally been corrected by Southwark Council after the error was pointed out. A similar sign on the opposite side of the road points drivers to lanes for the correct destinations of Rotherhithe and Peckham, with the corrected sign now mirroring these directions.

The sign had directed drivers to the famed beach city of Malibu and the mountainous neighbourhood of Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills, where 60s music icons such as Jim Morrison, Joni Mitchell and Frank Zappa lived. Southwark Council suggested the fact that Rotherhithe was a popular place to live, like Malibu and Laurel Canyon, might have been the reason it had gone 'under our radar' for so long.

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Joyce Kirton, 60, has walked past the sign for nearly 30 years but admitted she'd never before noticed that the destinations it pointed to were half the world away from her home city. She said: "I have never noticed that - and I've lived here for 30-odd years. Maybe it's a joke, but I walk this way loads and I've never noticed it before."

Christy, 29, from Ireland, now lives opposite the sign and said it had been there throughout all three years he's lived in South London. He said: "It has always been here. I don't know if it's an inside joke or something. I guess it's a bit of a laugh. I noticed the Malibu sign but, myself not being British, I didn't know if there was somewhere in southeast London called Malibu."

Gabriel and Lorena, from the Italian island of Sardinia, said that they, too, presumed Malibu and Laurel Canyon were in London. Lorena admitted: "I thought maybe it was twinned with somewhere else. We have that in Italy. I thought it was a genuine sign for somewhere in London."

Gabriel joked: "Maybe Malibu really is in that direction." Christy's housemate, who only moved in a few months ago, added: "I spotted it as soon as I moved in. It reminds me of being in LA." But locals who never noticed it are now too late, as Southwark Council has since replaced Malibu and Laurel Canyon on the sign with Peckham and Rotherhithe.

Cllr James McAsh, Cabinet Member for Clean Air, Streets and Waste at Southwark Council, said: "You’d be forgiven for confusing Rotherhithe with Malibu or Laurel Canyon as popular places to live where history and nature meet. That might explain why the sign has gone under our radar and we are now in the midst of amending it."

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