B.R. Reynolds Drive Sign Defaced To Honor Burt Reynolds

AUSTIN, TEXAS — A downtown Austin street sign was found to have been altered with the name of the late actor Burt Reynolds on Tuesday, officials said.

Transportation department officials reportedly discovered the defaced marker on Tuesday. The street name alerting to the B.R. Reynolds Drive was altered with white letters to read "Burt Reynolds Drive." The subject of the honor — the Academy Award-nominated actor of such films as "Boogie Nights," "Deliverance" and "Smokey and the Bandit" — died Sept. 6 of cardiac arrest at the age of 82.

Notwithstanding the roadside tribute, Austin Transportation Department crews promptly moved to replace the sign.

The homage is reminiscent of a similar — albeit more prominent and sophisticated — street tribute made to the late rock icon David Bowie days after his passing in January 2016. The sign along the 300 block of Bowie Street was a bigger undertaking than the Reynolds one after the culprit somehow managed to change the high-positioned sign on the 300 block of Bowie Street to read "David Bowie Street" instead.

That street is actually named in honor of Alamo defender James Bowie. As word spread of the altered sign, tourists and residents alike converged to take photos for posterity before transportation crews moved to replace it.

Yet the Bowie tribute, pulled off under the cover of darkness the night before its discovery, was widely embraced in the city that bills itself as the "live music capital of the world," the caper earning admirers even in official municipal positions. The defaced sign was allowed to remain for a protracted period of time to allow the curious to snap their pictures before being taken down.

The Bowie sign redux became something of a local cause, prompting the creation of a 5,000-signature petition to make it permanent. But eventually, Austin Transportation Department crews made the needed ch- ch- ch- changes to restore the sign to its original state.

Here's what that altered sign looked like:

Altered sign defaced to honor David Bowie in 2016, photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff

Related stories:

Downtown Street Sign Altered To Honor David Bowie

David Bowie Fans Sign Petition To Make Street Marker Named In His Honor Permanent

Daring Duo Confess To Changing Street Sign To Honor David Bowie

Austin Energy Warns Customers Of 'Burt Reynolds' Scammer

A stone's throw away from the banks of the Colorado River, just north of West Cesar Chavez Street, B.R. Reynolds Drive honors the man who served as the first General Secretary of the local YMCA.

"A University of Texas graduate and Executive Secretary at the Northside Branch YMCA in Houston, B.R Reynolds would lead the YMCA of Austin through its first phase of growth that would culminate with the opening of the TownLake Branch," an official history of the organization reads.

The duo that pulled off the David Bowie Street Sign Caper of 2016 eventually were identified, but not sanctioned harshly. As of Wednesday, it's unclear who defaced the B.R. Reynolds Drive sign to honor the late actor.

The Reynolds tribute was a decidedly more low-key affair than the Bowie homage. But somewhere, the late actor sharing the surname is likely flashing that devilish grin at the honor.

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>>> Top photo: Actor Burt Reynolds speaks during a Q&A session at the Los Angeles premiere of 'The Last Movie Star' at the Egyptian Theatre on March 22, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)