How do you get to the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles? How difficult is the trek, where does the route lead, and what will you see along the way? Come walk this route with me and find out everything.
Hollywood sign
The Hollywood Sign is famous monumental inscription on the southern slope of Mount Lee in Griffith Park, Los Angeles.
It consists of giant white capital letters spelling out the word "HOLLYWOOD." The inscription is 14 m high and 110 m long.
The inscription, viewed from below, gives the impression of undulations; at a comparable altitude, it appears to be almost flat.
Something from history
The original inscription was Hollywoodland and was built in 1923. The now-disused part of the land inscription was primarily for marketing purposes. In the 1920s, the adjacent land was in an unattractive state, and merchants wanted to use this novel method to make the land more attractive to potential buyers.
The purpose was to promote the name of the new Whitley Heights housing development, a whites-only development between Highland Avenue and Vine Street. Originally planned to be installed for only a year and a half, the sign became an internationally recognized symbol and has remained there.
Shortening the inscription
In the early 1940s, Albert Kothe (the official custodian of the sign) caused damage to the sign in a car accident. A drunken Kothe drove his Ford A off a cliff and crashed directly into the letter H. Kothe was not injured, but his Ford was completely destroyed, as was the original H, including its lighting. In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce contracted with the City of Los Angeles to repair and rebuild the sign. The original sign was intentionally shortened to Hollywood.
HuLLYWO D
However, by the early 1970s the original inscription was very dilapidated, the first O was broken, resembling a lowercase U, and the third O had fallen off completely, so the dilapidated inscription could be read as HuLLYWO D. Therefore, it was restored in 1978, thanks to a public campaign by Hugh Hefner, nine donors (Hugh Hefner, Giovanni Mazza, Les Kelley, Gene Autry, Terrence Donnelly, Andy Williams, Warner Bros. Records, Alice Cooper and Dennis Lidtke) gave a total of 250,000 $. The letters were made of steel, held up by steel supports laid on a concrete base.
The renovation was carried out free of charge in 2005 by Bay Cal Commercial Painting, the letters were remounted on a metal base and repainted white. (source: Wikipedia)
Where did I go to the Hollywood sign?
Before you go
Route It's not very complicated. But don't forget water, in the summer months you will also need sunscreen, or something for your head. Don't forget to have a charged phone and maps in it. Ideally with hiking routes. Then it goes better. Just have them downloaded offline. If you prefer online and need data, then I highly recommend the app Airalo, where you buy a data eSIM for all of America, simply install it on your phone, and voila. For your first purchase use discount code STANIS0407, you save $3 and Airalo will credit me with it too (thanks). I describe how it all works on the page https://florinacestach.cz/zahranici_data_airalo/
What does the road itself look like?
When choosing accommodation in Los Angeles, I chose to be able to reach all the tourist spots easily and within a few minutes. That's why I chose Hollywood and then, based on the price, Motel 6, which is in an alley right next to Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame, about 5 minutes from the subway. If you are looking for cheap accommodation and don't need luxury or breakfast, then I can only recommend it. It's a short walk to the film studios, you walk along the Walk of Fame every day and the Hollywood sign is not far away either. You can take a nice walking tour. And I really recommend it.
From the hotel, I took the bus down Hollywood Boulevard to the Hollywood/Western stop (you can also get there by subway from the city). From there, I walked up a gentle hill to Griffith Park.
First you walk along the sidewalk next to the road, then you switch to a natural path. In places the gentle hill turns into a bit steeper and you may even you're a little out of breath. But in a moment you will arrive at the Griffith Observatory, which towers over the city. The route is quite well-known, so you will meet many other people along the way, either heading in the same direction or already back.
From the bus stop to the observatory you can walk approximately 3 km, the elevation gain is 226 meters. Gradually, you will begin to see the view of Los Angeles and the Hollywood sign.
Griffith Observatory
In the year 1896 Griffith J. Griffith donated 4 acres (12.2 km2) of land surrounding the observatory to the city of Los Angeles. In his will, he provided funds to build an observatory, exhibition hall, and planetarium on the donated land. His goal was to make astronomy accessible to the public, contrary to the prevailing idea that observatories should be located on mountaintops and reserved only for scientists.
Construction began in 1933, and two years later the observatory and accompanying exhibits were opened to the public. It was the third planetarium in the country. During the first five days of operation, it was visited by more than 13,000 visitors.
The location on the southern slope of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park also offers breathtaking view of Los Angeles, including the skyscrapers in DownTown, the Pacific Ocean and the Hollywood sign, which is located nearby.
Entrance to the observatory
You can always take a look at the observatory building, the grounds, and the public telescopes. free. The campus is freely accessible, you can check the observatory's opening hours on their website website. I walked around the observatory a few times, took a lot of photos, took a picture with the Hollywood sign, and after about half an hour, I set off on the next part of the journey, this time directly to the Hollywood sign.
To get to the sign, I entered my destination in Google Maps and set off. Maps found a route about 5 kilometers long, nothing difficult.
First I walked along the sidewalk past the parked cars, then turned onto the closed road and after a while I turned off it onto a well-trodden path.
The path gradually became narrower and narrower, the bushes got closer and bigger.
I started to have doubts if I was going the right way. The map said yes, I met someone here and there, so it was good.
I preferred not to think about the fact that various lizards, snakes and other animals could be found in Griffith Park and in such bushes and grasses.
The road went by quite quickly, sometimes going uphill, sometimes along the ridge, and sometimes down again. Really easy trek with beautiful weather, sunshine and views of Los Angeles from all sides.
At the Hollywood sign
You will reach the Hollywood sign itself via a wide asphalt, somewhat broken road. Cars are not allowed here.
The inscription is long gone. fenced and direct access to it is prohibited. Both from the top and bottom. Especially because of vandals and people who climbed on the letters.
So you have to be content with the view from the hill above it. I was satisfied. The view is great.. You sit down for a while, have a snack, just look at the view of the surroundings and say to yourself, that's it. That's the famous sign that you know from many movies and photos. And if you're like me, you're happy that another one of your travel dreams has come true.
back to town
But it doesn't end at the sign. I simply followed the map back. I knew that I had two more places ahead of me where there was a great view of the sign, this time from below. This is the best view of all places and you'll be as close as you can get. One place isn't named on the map, so I've marked it for you. here and the second one is called on the map The Last House on Mulholland. You just have to go through a gate from the first viewpoint to get to it, which looks like private land, but don't worry, you can walk here normally and there is a normal road through there.
And from this viewpoint, all that's left is to walk through the streets back to the center of Hollywood, to the hotel, or take public transportation somewhere. I walked from here to the hotel. That was another 5 kilometers. You could probably take the bus, but it would be a shame not to walk through the streets and see how people live and work here.
Is it worth it?
If you are in Los Angeles, this is one of the places you must see. A visit to Los Angeles would not be complete without it. The route is not difficult, it takes about half a day, so go out there and enjoy it, maybe as much as I did. I enjoyed it and I fulfilled one of my dreams. And that's what it's all about.
