It’s one of the most recognizable cultural landmarks in the world and synonymous with America’s second largest city and its entertainment industry. The iconic Hollywood Sign has sat atop 1,578-foot Mount Lee in Los Angeles’ sprawling Griffith Park for more than a century. A de facto marquee for the city, folks from all walks of life are captivated by its cultural significance.
Most visitors to LA and, I dare say Angelinos as well, have only seen the sign from below its perch in the Santa Monica Mountains. It’s a whole different perspective to view it from above. An extensive network of trails, fire roads, and closed-to-vehicles roads in Griffith Park offer several routes to hike, bike and even horseback ride to the Hollywood Sign.
Craig Romano
Behind the Hollywood Sign
My family and I opted for the more direct 3-mile Brush Canyon approach for our hike to LA’s signature sign—with a longer return to the Griffith Observatory, the city’s second most recognizable landmark. At 4,130 acres, Griffith Park is more than four times larger than New York’s Central Park and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, and much wilder. Mountain lions occasionally roam Griffith and one named P-22 lived in the park for a decade; and this being LA gained him celebrity status.
Ascending Brush Canyon, it’s easy to forget that more than 10-million people surround the park. We passed a small waterfall and traversed steep slopes sporting wildflowers before attaining a ridge revealing the thriving metropolis below. Upon reaching the Tyrolian water tank we were granted with one of the best close-up frontal views of the sign, which in essence is nine separate towering letters.
Craig Romano
Behind the Hollywood Sign
We continued on the last grunt, swinging around Mount Lee and emerging just below its summit right above and behind the 44-foot-tall steel letters. They were erected in 1978, after the original wooden ones which were built in 1923 to promote a housing development and meant to last only a year and a half fell into disrepair.
The sign is surrounded by fencing and surveillance cameras to thwart vandalism or tampering. So no selfies leaning against a letter. But the view out over those letters is stunning. Lake Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills yield to the steel and glass of Los Angeles sprawled between the lofty more than 10,000-foot San Gabriel Mountain to the east and the shimmering Pacific Ocean to the west. It’s a view that can be straight out of a movie.
Plan your visit
Find more info on the sign and hiking to it at hollywoodsign.org.
Plan your trip to Hollywood at discoverlosangeles.com.