Who needs to take a hike past the Hollywood Sign when you can buzz by it after jumping out of a plane? This extreme approach is the work of The Red Bull Air Force, described as "a team assembled from the most accomplished and experienced skydivers, B.A.S.E. jumpers and paragliders on the planet." more ›

All hail the Hef! Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's $900,000 donation in 2010 was a significant factor in the "saving" of the Hollywood Sign, and to honor his generosity, a plaque thanking him will be installed on a hilltop boulder. more ›

It's a well-known fact that tourists in L.A. are anxious to visit the Hollywood sign. But lately, with the aid of GPS devices and tour buses, an increasing number of out-of-towners have been finding their way to quiet residential streets in the Hollywood Hills.According to NBC Los Angeles, those who live in the area are split down the middle about the issue. more ›

For months, residents of Beachwood Canyon have been at odds over signs "pointing tourists to a place where the iconic Tinseltown symbol can be viewed and photographed," notes the L.A. Times. The directional aides served some relief to the homeowners near the locked fire road that leads to the historic Hollywood sign by re-routing the headache of sightseers and noisy tour buses to neighboring streets... more ›

The National Weather Service says we're getting "a very cold storm system" today and tonight, and it's packing "significant and low level snow." In the mountains, they're due for steady snowfall, and when that very cold air mass settles, the snow level will drop to between 500 and 1500 feet tonight and tomorrow. more ›

Now here's a real treat. Photographer Mike Meadows, who is known for his fabulous work of the Los Angeles Fire Department in action, yesterday caught some amazing photos of the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Park, as first pointed out by KNBC's Robert Kovacik. more ›

And it's done! Playboy-owner Hugh Hefner has donated $900,000 to the Save the Peak campaign, triggering a $500,000 match from the Tiffany & Co. Foundation and Aileen Getty, the Trust for Public Land announced this morning. The land will eventually be donated to the city to become part of Griffith Park. more ›

It's good news--sort of--for the Trust for Public Land, who today say they have been given "a 16-day extension to finish raising the $12.5 million it needs to buy and preserve the Cahuenga Peak property from private developers," reports KTLA. more ›

Will the Hollywood Sign get new neighbor in the form of luxury homes or will the land to the left of the "H" be preserved and become part of Griffith Park? That depends on fundraising efforts by the Trust for Public Land, which struck a $12.5 million deal with the land owners to pay up by April 14th. If the money is not in hand by then, the land goes back on the market, with the possibility of being sold to developers who could place homes around Cahuenga Peak. "We're talking to a lot of people," said Tim Ahern of the Trust to KPCC. "We feel good about where we are and we feel good about our chances to do this." For background on this, check out LAist's profile on the project. more ›

Digital billboards, usually reported in controversial stories about the signage industry, gets a small pat on the back today. Over 80 of their digitized billboards in Los Angeles are bringing attention to the Save the Peak campaign, which is raising money to purchase the land next to the Hollywood Sign. The deadline to give the property owners $12.5 million dollars is April 14th and the Trust needs a little over $3 million. If successful, they will deed the land over to the city of Los Angeles to create extra park space in Griffith Park. more ›

That's a good amount of money, but you're not going to raise millions by April 14th at that rate. According to the folks at the Trust for Public Land, which is trying to save the Hollywood Sign's neighboring property, Cahuenga Peak, from sale to a private developer who could build a handful of homes, they still have a long way to go until they hit $12.5 million. more ›

Take a look at the Hollywood Sign and you'll notice it's back to normal. Today, Trust for Public Land officials ended its awareness campaign, which had the sign covered with "SAVE THE PEAK," announcing that almost $2 million has been raised since the beginning of last week (about $1 million was raised since Thursday, when the campaign officially began). more ›

For a while there yesterday we were worried the efforts to raise awareness about development near the historic Hollywood sign was going to get stalled on a semi-comical near-typo when the mission to transform the giant letters via a banner reading "Save the Peak" for some time read "SAVEYPOOD." But the task is finally done, and now the message is, at least visually and grammatically, clear. more ›

With SAVE THE PEAK replacing the Hollywood Sign temporarily over the next few days, it's a good time to bring up a list of where to best view it from. We're big fans of staring at it from Hollyridge Drive, but... more ›

As The Hollywood Sign transforms to read "SAVE THE PEAK," an awareness campaign to bring attention to the pending sale of 138 acres next door (will it stay open space or become a development?), the sign is temporarily reading funny things like "SALLYWOOD." In the meantime, the LA Times has a nice photo gallery of unofficial transformations like "CALTECH" and "HOLLYWeeD." more ›

The Hollywood Sign today began its transformation into "Save the Peak," a campaign to raise awareness and money (you can donate here, even if it's $5) for the land to the West of the sign, which is currently up for sale. $6.3 million has already been secured by the Trust for Public Land, but another $6.2 must be raised by April 15th or the property could go to developers, who would have the option to build luxury homes on the 138 acres atop and around Cahuenga Peak, which offers 360 views of the Los Angeles region. more ›

As far as we can tell, no action on the anticipated Hollywood Sign change for today has happened yet (we're hearing around 3 p.m.). However, Eric Spillman at KTLA shared a photo on Twitter of graffiti on the first "L" of the Hollywood Sign. "Noticed it this morning," he said before tweeting out the photo (biggify here, you can see it on the bottom corner of the "L"). We're curious how it got there, considering the intense security--cameras, motion sensors, an on-duty officer--surrounding the sign. Officials at the city's General Services Police Department (not the LAPD), were not aware of it. "Sadly this does happen from time to time," explained a Hollywood Sign Trust spokesperson. "We have a crew of painters who take care of these things." more ›

With the sale of 138 acres next to the Hollywood Sign pending $6.3 million in donations, the iconic sign is expected to change wording as an appeal to the community, and perhaps the world... more ›

[Update: Hollywood Sign Expected to Read 'Save the Peak' on Thursday. Read about it here.] more ›

Getting a shot from this vantage point is pretty rare. That's because in recent years, the Hollywood Sign has become more highly guarded than ever before, which means casual explorers, hiking enthusiasts, tormented would-be starlets, pranksters, and enemies of the state are kept at bay from the 86-year-old icon on the hillside. more ›

The exhibit Melting Point opens today at the El Camino College Art Gallery in Torrance featuring the art of Marshall Astor, Angie Bray, Bill Brody, Richard Carter, Michael Davis, Daniel Du Plessis, Mineko Grimmer, Rebeca Mendez, Tom McMillin and George Geyer (collaboration), Margaret Pezalla, Victor Raphael, Greta Waller and Tal Yizrael. Each of the 14 Southern California artists approach “melting point” from a distinct perspective. The exhibit runs through Dec. 18. more ›

We've been biting our tongue all season so far and not running to the keyboard to spew forth our behemoth recaps of The CW's re-tooled 90210, now in its second year on the air. But we're still watching--and encouraging you to watch, too, like our TV Junkie did yesterday--and last night's episode had just enough on-location action to get our tongues, and fingers wagging. more ›

Forget the gap-toothed grins and the wide-eyed haunted faces; what says Los Angeles on Halloween more than Los Angeles itself on a Jack O'Lantern? LAist readers and Featured Photos pool contributors Sadie and Allison Crabtree set the city on fire...on the faces of their pumpkins. The iconic Hollywood sign gleams while the Griffith Observatory sits majestically on their pumpkin-y perches. Of course, we don't ever want to see those hills burn quite so close to those landmarks--but on a day that's about illusion, trickery, and the darker side, well, why not?
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Nearly 75 people yesterday joined Dan Koeppel and friends on the first of two days in The Big Parade, a 40-mile walk from downtown to the Hollywood Sign up and down more one hundred neighborhood stair cases. They begin the last leg of their journey this morning after camping in a Silver Lake pocket park next to the Music Box Stairs. more ›

Hiking through the Hollywood Hills, one finds a lot of garbage. There's the usual bottles and cans of various types, old bits of carpeting, couches, bones, bicycles, even old cars sometimes. They all have (little h) history. Someone had to truck it up there and leave it, either to get rid of it, or to live in it, whatever. But very little has (capital H) History to it. more ›

In addition to providing you with an excellent cardio and lower-body workout, the Hollywoodland Staircases Walk also has amazing views of the city, the landscape, and two major landmarks (the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory). Throw some local history (concrete staircases joining hilly residential streets installed in 1923 as part of the Hollywoodland real estate development) and a wide variety of architecture and you have more for your eyes to drink in than you bargained for in just a one-hour, 2 mile walk through the charming Beachwood Canyon neighborhood. more ›

The Flat Stanley project was started in 1995 by Dale Hubert, a Canadian schoolteacher. The project is based on the title character in Flat Stanley, a 1964 children's book. In the book, Stanley Lambchop is squished flat, which gives him unique abilities, like being able to slide under doors and travel in envelopes. The project is intended to increase literacy and educate children about geography. more ›

On the heels of the recent SoCal beef recall and a property being sold abut the Hollywood Sign, PETA announced an idea yesterday of buying or, at least, renting the next-door land to place 5-letters to the left of the Hollywood sign. If all becomes said and done (they wish), Hollywood's icon would read "Go Veg Hollywood." more ›