Sunday Hike: Hollywood Sign

Nick and I were able to get back into our Sunday Hike, now that I am not working at Old Navy on the weekends anymore.

One of the hikes I have heard a lot about is the Hollywood Sign hike. I heard multiple reports that it was between "strenuous" and "moderate", so we decided to go when we had a little more time. After doing some research on the Internet about where to park/start, etc, we learned that the hike takes around 3 hours to finish.

We started on Sunday afternoon around 3:00. It was a warmer day, so we made sure to pack lots of water for the dogs, as well as for us.

The trails for this hike are really nice--really wide and pretty well-maintained. There are a few parts where it gets a little rough, so it's not a recommended hike for strollers. But the dogs and Nick and I did it pretty well.

The hike is actually accessible for horses, so at the trailhead we came across these hitches. I thought it'd be funny to put my "horse" on one of them. :)

As you wind up the (very steep) hill, you start to get little glimpses and peeks of the Hollywood sign.

A little bit of history for you: The Hollywood sign originally said "Hollywoodland", and was an advertisement for a real estate development. In the 1970s, the sign was in great disrepair, and some celebrities stepped in to purchase each letter and restore them. In fact, Alice Cooper, Hugh Hefner, and Gene Autry were all sponsors for individual letters to be replaced. The letters that stand atop the mountain are actually not the original letters. The original ones were sold on eBay in 2005 to an artist, who is refurbishing them as works of art. The sign used to be lit up, but it cost too much money, so they didn't replace the lights. This picture is from the 70s:

The sign itself sits atop Mount Lee, which is about 1.5x the height of the Empire State Building. Mt. Lee housed the first television signal west of New York. At one point, Howard Hughes owned part of the land on Mount Lee, and was intending to build a mansion for Ginger Rogers. The Hughes estate owned the land until 2002, when it was sold. In 2010, a campaign was mounted to buy the land for nearby Griffith Park, and they were successful.

This hike is not for the faint of heart! For the trail we did, the first .9 miles are all uphill--you go up about 600 feet in elevation in less than a mile. It definitely got our legs a-pumpin'! I had fun, too, because I was carrying all the water for us and the dogs--probably an extra 15 pounds or so. I liked the workout!  At the beginning of the trail is some good shade, but then it opens up and there is no shade for most of the hike. Be prepared for that if you go! No shade, no water, no trashcans.

Like I said, part of the trail is accessible for horses--so watch where you step! :) It was funny to see Waldo's reaction to the horses.

Unfortunately we went on a kind of muggy, smoggy day--you couldn't see very clearly. But it was nice to see views of the city from a slightly different vantage point than we normally do. This picture is of the Valley--specifically Burbank and Universal City.

Once you get to the top (2.8 miles later), you get to see the back side of the Hollywood letters. They are impressively tall! Another interesting thing to note is that they are all level with each other. From ground level, they look like they are set on slightly different heights from each other, but it's just an optical illusion.

While it's disappointing that you don't get to get any closer to the letters themselves, don't even think about jumping over the fences to sneak a closer peek. There are multiple signs warning you, plus all the security cameras that are on 24/7. On top of that, every 5-10 minutes a helicopter flies by to monitor the site.

Me and the boys:

After we spent a few minutes at the top, we headed down the hill. There is a point on the trail where it splits off, and you can head around another part of a trail to see the front. I figured that since we were already 3 miles into this trip, we might as well add another 1/2 mile to get a good view, so we headed around. This is probably the best view of the Hollywood sign you'll get in Los Angeles--certainly the closest up-front view you'll get.  While we hiked here, there is another easier way to get there by car...but what fun is that? :)

All in all, I'd say we walked just short of 7 miles. Great workout, and we were hungry and tired when we finished. But I love spending Sunday afternoons that way. :)