Strange Sign Alert: Why Is There a 'Skunk' Sign on Myrtle Avenue?

If you are driving up Myrtle Avenue in search of a skunk, you will apparently want to make a left.

At least that's what the sign says. Why someone would be looking for a skunk is unclear. The location of the skunk is also a mystery.

On the way to an interview Thursday, Monrovia Patch's editor saw this yellow sign with an arrow pointing left. One simple, unexplained word was above it: skunk.

Technically, there is another skunk below the arrow--an upside down skunk. This gives the impression that skunk-seeking traffic could just as easily be directed eastbound by flipping the sign around.

And the sign is right below a "No Stopping Any Time" sign, so there is no time to pull over and consider the meaning of the purported skunk and whether it should be followed.

Confused but intrigued, this editor veered left and dutifully followed the sign's directions, turning west on West Maple Avenue in hot pursuit of the promised skunk. He drove slowly for several blocks hoping to get a glimpse of the smelly member of the weasel family, but had no such luck. He also failed to spot any "stink badgers," a close relative of the skunk (which he learned during his exhaustive skunk research on Wikipedia).

So the questions remain: why is there a bright yellow sign on a major Monrovia thoroughfare directing us toward a skunk? Is it an art installation? Or, more likely, a prank? Is there actually a skunk somewhere to be seen? Have you seen it?

What's going on!?

Skunk Update: From city spokeswoman Jennifer McLain: "The sign for "skunk" was part of a filming yesterday by "skunk productions." They were filming a national American Express Commercial that will promote Small Business Saturday. In the past some of our merchants were actually participants of Small Business Saturday, which is a program that promotes businesses just like the ones we have in Old Town Monrovia."