The white sign waving on Mount Lee in the millionaire Hollywood Hills is one of America’s most iconic symbols. Why is it there at all, and what was its original form? In this article, I’ll give you the best places to take a picture with it.
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Table of Contents
Where Is the Hollywood Sign Located
The Hollywood sign is located in Los Angeles on the south side of Mount Lee in Griffith Park, and cannot be reached directly. The sign is surrounded by a fence that is connected to motion detectors and the entire area is under surveillance by cameras. Anyone entering the restricted area will be detained by police.
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The Best Places to Take Pictures of the Hollywood Sign
1️⃣ Lake Hollywood Park
The advantage of Lake Hollywood Park is not only good views, but also very good accessibility by car. You can combine your stop with a visit to the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, which is nearby. You can also stop here on your way from the Griffith Observatory, a drive of about 30 minutes.
The downside is that the location is quite popular, and parking spaces are often full.
2️⃣ Canyon Lake Drive
A good place to take pictures is from Canyon Lake Drive near the house number 3000. If you are driving, I recommend parking at the dog exercise area. There is no parking on the smaller and side streets, and police officers like this area. So don’t get a ticket.
If you walk up the hill towards Mulholland Highway, you’ll get an even better view. If the weather is good (fog is frequent) you can see Los Angeles and Hollywood Reservoir.
3️⃣ Griffith Observatory
The Griffith Observatory offers a fairly long observation deck on its west side, which offers a good view of the Hollywood sign. You can also combine a photo shoot with the sign with a visit to the observatory, admission is free. The downside is that the sign is quite remote from this location.
4️⃣ Helicopter Tour Around the Hollywood Sign
See the Hollywood sign from a completely different perspective from the deck of a helicopter, choose to fly at sunset. During the 10-minute flight, you’ll also see the Hollywood Hills, Griffith Park, Mulholland Drive, Beverly Hills and Universal Studios theme park.
Departing from Burbank Airport, you can enjoy commentary from the pilot during the flight and ask questions.
5️⃣ Hollyridge Trail
The Hollyridge Trail will get you as close to the Hollywood sign as possible. The view of the sign has a slight catch, as you will be behind the sign and will see it from behind.
The trail itself is more physically challenging, as it measures 5.10 mi, on which you’ll cover 850 ft of elevation gain.
6️⃣ Barnsdall Art Park
The view from Barnsdall Art Park offers something a little different again. The park is located in town near the Vermont/Sunset Metro station, so the sign is quite distant. However, this gives you the opportunity to capture the entire skyline in a photo.
The Barnsdall Art Park sits on a parcel of land that the city received as a gift in 1927, and used it to build a cultural center whose art galleries you can visit.
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History of the Hollywood Sign – Who Built It and Why
The Hollywood sign was erected in 1923 by local property developer Woodruff and Shoults as an advertisement to draw attention to a new development.
The project was called HOLLYWOODLAND and the original name sounded the same, which was already illuminated at the time. First the HOLLY, WOOD and LAND sections flashed in succession before four thousand bulbs lit up the entire sign, which was 30 ft in height. The original plan was to remove the letters from the hill after a year and a half, but thanks to the meteoric rise of the film industry, they became a symbol of Los Angeles, so they remained in place.
Over the course of its more than 100 years of existence, the Hollywood sign has been damaged several times. In the early 1940s, its maintenance man Albert Kothe was in a car accident; he himself was not seriously hurt, but the letter H was destroyed.
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The Sign Was Saved by a Collection Organized by the Founder of Playboy
The Hollywood sign received its first restoration in 1949, when the local Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles Parks Department agreed to renovate it. The agreement was that the Chamber of Commerce would pay for the new lighting, so the bulbs were not installed in the repaired sign to save money. The sign at HOLLYWOOD was also shortened.
The replacement of the by-then wooden letters with metal ones occurred in 1978, with Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner coming up with the idea. He and eight other donors contributed $27,777 each to bring the total to a quarter of a million US dollars. Each paid for one letter:
- H – Terrence Donnelly, publisher of the Hollywood Independent Newspaper
- O – singer Alice Cooper, in honor of comedian Groucho Marx
- L – Les Kelley, founder of Kelley Blue Book
- L – Gene Autry, singer
- Y – Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine
- W – Andy Williams, singer
- O – Giovanni Mazza, Italian film producer
- O – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
- D – Dennis Lidtke, entrepreneur, in honor of Matthew Willams
The sign was newly tall 46 ft and its unveiling on live television on November 14, 1978 was watched by some 60 million viewers. The sign underwent its most recent renovation to date in November 2005, when the letters were given a new white coat of paint.
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Fun Facts About the Hollywood Sign
⭕ Imitation of the Hollywood Sign in the World
The Hollywood sign is famous all over the world and imitations of it stand in many places. One of them with the text “VALMEZ” stood for a time on Helštýn Hill near Valašské Meziříčí in the Czech Republic. Other imitations are near the port of Keelung in Taiwan, on Mount Tâmpa in Brasov, Romania, or near the Polish town of Szastarka.
⭕ Temporary Changes to the Hollywood Sign
The text of the Hollywood sign itself has been changed several times, such as in September 1987 to “HOLYWOOD” to mark the Pope’s arrival in Los Angeles, or on FOX (national American television) in April of the same year. In 1990, the sign was changed to “OIL WAR”, a protest against the Gulf War.
⭕ The Sign Has Been a Protected Monument Since 1973
The Hollywood Sign is one of the most photographed in the world, and in 1973 was declared a protected landmark by the City of Los Angeles.
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Photos of the Hollywood Sign
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