Environment

Hollywood for Sale: Sign Endangered By Real Estate Deal

by Jordan Yerman | April 17, 2008 at 06:54 am

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Cahuenga Peak, the hill that hosts the world-famous Hollywood sign, is for sale. The land, once owned by Howard Hughes, was purchased six years ago by a holding company, and is now on the market, raising the spectre of LA's iconic vista being littered with mansions. Proponents of the plan argue that homes built on the peak would not obscure the sign, but this argument rings hollow: the Hollywood sign is striking because it's all by itself on the hill: clutter would simply dilute its effect.

The city of Los Angeles owns the sign itself as well as most of the surrounding land, but cannot pay more than the appraised value of the remaining land-- a wealthy private buyer could easily pay more.

The world-famous HOLLYWOOD sign that has been used by TV and movie directors in more scene-setting shots than a film student could ever count was first erected in 1923 to promote real estate in the fledgling capital of celluloid.
Eighty-five years later, some fear the sign and the hillside on which it sits are threatened by, yes, a real estate deal.
An investment group that owns 138 sage-covered acres above and to the left of the 45-foot-high, steel-and-concrete H put the land up for sale last month for $22 million.
Some Los Angeles residents are afraid mansions will be built there, spoiling the sign's uncluttered, postcard-perfect backdrop. They worry, too, that the land will no longer be accessible to the hikers, sightseers and romantics who often climb the hill for solitude and a panoramic view of the Los Angeles basin.