Tarzana's Hypnosis Motivation Institute Is Latest School to Have Sign on the 101

Tarzana’s Hypnosis Motivation Institute (HMI) is the latest institute to have a sign added along the seven-mile stretch of the 101 freeway in Tarzana and Woodland Hills, according to the Los Angeles Times.

HMI has four signs in total on the stretch, which is the largest cluster of college directional signs in the Los Angeles area, according to the Times.

The director of academic services at HMI, Sandy Kappas, said that she thinks the freeway signage is helpful for both HMI and the community.

“I think it’s a great thing, it allows people to know what kind of alternative education is in their community that they may not otherwise have even known about or thought about,” Kappas said.

Kappas said that it has increased has noticed some increase since the signs have gone up.

“It helps a little bit,” Kappas said, “They helps people know about the school that previously didn’t... [and] they help for advertising."

LA Observed had some critical words for the proliferation of the freeway signage in a recent article.

“It's just state-sanctioned PR, and the less known you are, the more valuable it is.

I've commented before, here and on KCRW, about the proliferation of freeway signage. I may be feeling another one coming on.”

In response to those comments, Kappas said that she thinks Cal Trans should focus on taking down signs for colleges that are no longer in business.

“They’re talking about there being a lot of signs, if they take down the ones for the colleges that are no longer in business there won’t be that many signs,” Kappas said.

Kappas said that the College of Law is one example.

“The College of Law hasn’t been in business for years and they left the sign up,” Kappas said. “Cal Trans should be doing some kind of follow-up where they contact the schools to make sure they’re still in business and if not they should take the signs down, clean up the freeway a little bit.”