Thieves Steal Historic Bronze Lamp Post From Glendale-Hyperion Bridge

ATWATER VILLAGE (CBSLA.com) — Authorities say thieves stole a historic 10-foot tall lamp post from the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge earlier this week.

At some point Tuesday night, someone cut into the high-voltage system powering the lamp post and then cut the pole's anchor bolts with a portable saw. The culprit then pushed the pole over — feet away from the bridge thousands of cars travel on every day.

Police say a similar incident occurred 30 years ago. City crews welded the poles' anchor bolts into steel plates to make thefts more difficult. This time, however, it didn't make a difference.

The lamp posts date back to 1927, which was when the bridge was first built.

KCAL9's Juan Fernandez said that a true replacement will be almost impossible.

"It's really dangerous to topple over a lamp post like that. You could kill yourself, you know? I don't know how much it's worth…well, it's pretty much priceless," resident Kimo Arbas said.

Meantime, officials say they often see an increase in the theft of copper wire and precious metals during the holiday season.