Tourists swarm to 'Hollywood' sign, but create tension among residents

[ChickenGuy]

Interesting article.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16107708

One of the icons of the entertainment industry, the Hollywood sign, is annoying some local residents who say it is attracting too many tourists.

The sign, which was built in 1923, is high in the steep Los Angeles hills but satellite navigation systems are making it easier for tourists to find their way through the area's winding roads and narrow alleyways.

Frustrations are growing over increased traffic and fire risks in the arid area.

They seem to have stricter rules in America about where people can't walk and can't go, and more 'private roads'. The lady in the middle of the report seems a bit harsh. The guy after her seems a little more helpful and polite.

Any JUBbers ever been to Hollywood? It must be an interesting kind of place. It would be fascinating to see, even though the superficiality and fakeness and materialism is the complete opposite of my type of personality.

 

[gsdx]

It happens a lot over here. Many people buy homes in places where they know the circumstances, and then try to change the circumstances because they are bothered by them.

Where I grew up, there are 3 rail lines running right through the town. People buying homes there know about the tracks. It's not a big surprise to them. There isn't a spot in the town where the horns can't be heard. Yet, they buy a home a block or two away from the tracks, then bitch and moan because the trains blow the horns at night.

A lot of complaining goes on around airports, too.

 

[GamerBear]

I've been to Hollywood three times, even though I live an hour drive from LA and Hollywood it's been interesting to be able to go there walk along the Walk of Frame and see all the places that you would see in movies and old footage of old Hollywood in the 50's and 60's. I've always wanted to get closer to the Hollywood sign but the closest I've gotten was probably from the Griffith Park observatory

I can understand that people get pissed off about people just parking right in front of your house, but sometimes it's just the price you pay for living in a popular tourist area. Probably be better to just move to a boring ass city like some place in the Inland Empire.

 

[TommyTrojan]

In the homeowners' defense, the residential streets that tourists take to get closer to the Hollywood sign are incredibly narrow and winding and can barely handle the existing local traffic, let alone hundreds of additional cars. It's not like they're driving down the Champs Elysees or some other major thoroughfare.

That said, I agree with gsdx: don't buy houses with breaktaking views of tourist attractions and then get upset when tourists try to see said attraction.

Hollywood proper is not the same thing as Los Angeles. It is just one of the dozens of cities/communities that make up Los Angeles County. I think it's worth spending a couple of hours to see the Kodak Theatre, Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame. But Hollywood proper is very dirty and most people find it disappointing.

Also, very little production actually happens in Hollywood anymore. The movie studios are headquartered in Studio City and most of the TV soundstages are up in Burbank.

 

[frankfrank]

^ Yet, Hollywood is officially part of Los Angeles. (But West Hollywood isn't. Go figure.) Even far out places like Northridge (and nearly the entire San Fernando Valley) and San Pedro are officially in the Los Angeles city limits. Los Angeles cannot be summed up in one unified mindset or lifestyle.

I've never visited the Hollywood Sign, though I've certainly seen it plenty of times.

 

[Lawnmowerman]

@ GSDX: There's a small racetrack near where I live that over the years was built-up around by housing. Once they had some event where the news was there concerning noise and the like, and one particularly irritated woman stood up and rather indignantly asked the owner "Why do you people always have to put these things right in the middle of our neighborhoods?". To which the owner calmly pointed to a large aerial image framed of the racetrack hanging on the wall, surrounded by nothing but woods and politely asked her "I'm really sorry ma'am, but which one of those trees do you live in?" I thought it was classic.

 

[JayQueer]

The amount of misinformation being spread in this thread is alarming.

First of all, Hollywood is NOT the same thing as West Hollywood. West Hollywood, or "WeHo" is an independent city. Hollywood is actually a neighorhood or district within the city of Los Angeles. The Hollywood sign is miles away from where West Hollywood is.

The Hollywood sign is located above the community where Beachwood Drive is. The Hollywood sign actually was erected by a real estate developer who named his project "Hollywoodland" in the 1920s. The sign, which read "Hollywoodland," was intended as an advertisement to draw attention to the residential plots he wanted he wanted to sell in the hills & canyons below. The sign even had blinking lights, which flashed on & off at night.

The "Hollywoodland" sign was never removed even after the Hollywoodland community was fully completed. Since it was never removed, the large "Hollywoodland" sign came to be associated with L.A., Hollywood, and the entertainment industry.

By the 1940s, the "Hollywoodland" sign had fallen into disrepair, and with the help of the city of L.A., plus donations from movie stars & the entertainment industry, the sign was restored -- this time with metal, but no blinking lights. They also removed the letters "land", and the sign became the "Hollywood" sign people recognize today.

The people who are affected by tourists (& vandals) trying to get to the Hollywood sign are people who live in the Hollywoodland community for which the Hollywood sign was originally erected.

Personally, if I were part of the Hollywoodland HOA, I would advocate closing off Beachwood Drive and other streets to the public and turn the neighorhood into a gated community. The houses in that neighorhood are worth $1 to 5 million dollars, and have spectacular views.

If I owned a house in that neighborhood, I wouldn't want tourists and looky-loos trampling all over my front yard to get to the Hollywood sign. Plus, if they turned it into a gated community, they could use the HOA funds to pay for private 24/7 security and improve the roads & sidewalks (since the city of L.A. is horrible at doing that themselves).

 

[Beachguyj]

I was there a few years ago (2007) for a short side trip from Las Vegas and I asked a local walking their dog the best route to take to ride up to see it and they gave me directions on what road to take. It is a very winding road and you can't really get that close to it. I didn't see any other tourists on the road when I was on it.

I even found a picture of it.

 

[Soilwork]

I hike up there often. To be honest, people are being drama queens. There are a lot of hiking trails in the hills and the best ones don't go near the sign so on the times I've gone to the sign, you only see a few people.

Directly below the sign, about 300 meters, someone has written "tourists go away" In what I'm guessing are five-foot tall letters made from white gravel I their side lot. It's kinda weird.

I suppose that idiots who can't figure out how to google the walking trails and just drive straight up beechwood to the end and then try to cut through people's lawns and scale the hill would annoy the residents. But the way to the trails isn't actually up that street.

I shot quite a long sequence up there for one of my shut up jasun videos but decided I was going to reshoot that bit down in Hollywood proper at the Chinese Theater. So I guess I can still go up there and shoot again for something else.

 

[frankfrank]

It never even occurred to me to take that hike before! Add that to my bucket list.

 

[Soilwork]

One thing nobody mentioned is that there're wild animals near that Hollywood Sign. It's not really very safe.

Pic:

http://findadeath.com/Deceased/e/Peg Entwistle/HollywoodSign/3snakesign.jpg

That's just there to remind clueless tourists not to wear open-toe sandals.

There are rattle snakes, black widows, mountain lions and all sorts of other animals everywhere. When I worked at Jake Cruise, it was very accepted that if we were shooting in the hills above the ranch, everyone wore boots and you always looked where you stepped.

 

[Telstra]

The surrounding scenery in the video looks dry and ugly to me.

 

[andysayshi]

It's always amazed me that nobody's taken more advantage of what is probably amongst the top 20 most iconic sights in the US. It's way overdue that a decent road, a viewing area and a car park were built at a good distance from the sign. Hell, build a manicured walking path around the sign with a nice location for photos and you could charge 20 bucks a visitor.

 

[Soilwork]

It's always amazed me that nobody's taken more advantage of what is probably amongst the top 20 most iconic sights in the US. It's way overdue that a decent road, a viewing area and a car park were built at a good distance from the sign. Hell, build a manicured walking path around the sign with a nice location for photos and you could charge 20 bucks a visitor.

Um... And where do you put them?

It's on a cliff near a radio tower and surrounded by a residential area.

There is no room and if there was, that real estate is worth about $20 millions dollars per parking lot.