Save The Hollywood Sign!

A Chicago-based investment group, Fox River Financial Services, put up 138 acres of land above and to the left of the 45-foot-high “H” of LA’s beloved HOLLYWOOD sign for sale last month for $22 million.
Residents are afraid mansions will be built there and will spoil the sign’s uncluttered, postcard-perfect backdrop.
Also, there’s concern that if some big private owner snaps up the land it may no longer be accessible to the hikers and sightseers who often climb the hill for solitude and a panoramic view of the Los Angeles basin.
LA Councilman Tom LaBonge is leading residents in a fight to protect the land.
“That is our Eiffel Tower. There is the Hollywood sign. There is the open space. And that’s all there is. This is ours and it should remain ours,” stated LaBonge.
We were shocked to hear the news! We always assumed all the land around the sign was protected by some historical landmark preservation ruling.
But, turns out the land was actually owned by the late billionaire Howard Hughes. Those Chicago based investors ‘quietly’ purchased the property from Hughes’ estate for $1.7 million in 2002. Based on the bargain-basement price paid by the investors, the report asserts that the Hughes estate’s trustees were probably unaware of what it was worth or too busy managing the billionaire’s vast holdings to care.
Smells fishy to us! The investors bought the land for $1.7 million and are now selling it for $22 million?!
Ironically, the Hollywood sign was erected to drum up business for a real estate developer.
Who cares though, right?
It’s one of the few things that defines the LA area, so let’s help keep it the way it is!
[Image via Mavrix Online.]