Do you want to keep Griffith Park wild? New pilot plan temporarily reopens roads in the park

The Hollywood Sign atop Mt. Lee in Griffith Park. Credit: Mary Forgione

Make your voice heard on the plan to open some roads in Griffith Park to tourists who want access to the Hollywood sign. Express your views to Michael A. Shull, General Manager; City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department; 1200 West 7th St., 4th floor; Los Angeles, CA 90017. You can e-mail him at michael.a.shull@lacity.org.

Hordes of tourists are coming to Los Angeles these days, and most of them want to see Griffith Park Observatory and the Hollywood sign, according to Kevin Regan and Joe Salaices of the City of L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks. They met with park advocates at the Griffith Park Ranger Station auditorium the evening of March 19 to discuss a new plan to open some roads in the park for tourists.

In fact, everyone wants to get as close to the Hollywood sign as possible. In their quest for close-up views and impressive selfie photos, motorists have been driving Beachwood Canyon residents to the brink of madness. Other residents of the Hollywood Hills with access to the front of the sign have also been experiencing the congestion, noise and litter that accompany sign-seeking motorists.

The Hollywood Sign's beginnings

The landmark sign had a rather unglamorous origin. It started its life in the 1920s as a giant advertisement for a housing subdivision called Hollywoodland. The developers, including Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler, ordered a huge wooden sign built atop Mt. Lee. It was never kept in the best repair, and letters frequently blew down. Finally, in 1978, celebrities pledged $27,777.77 per letter to restore the sign with 50-foot high sheet metal letters. Before then, it was possible to hike or ride a horse right up to the sign.

During the last few years, steps have been taken to reduce the impacts of motorists wending their way up narrow, curving roads, trying to get close to the sign. These steps have included controlled gate access at Hollyridge trailhead and closure of a 22-car parking lot at the north end of Beachwood Canyon. Large digital signage at the bottom of Beachwood Canyon aims to discourage Hollywood Sign visitor access, redirecting motorists to Griffith Observatory. Driving directions available on smartphone apps also direct Hollywood Sign traffic to the Observatory. Of course these measures have increased the vehicular traffic near the Observatory.  Indeed, congestion has reached the point where motorists have been stuck for over an hour inching their way up Western Canyon on their way to the Observatory.

Shuttle service reopens long-closed roads

A pay-to-ride shuttle system traveling a 1.1 mile stretch of Mt. Hollywood Drive has also been operated. Supporters of Griffith Park did not jump for joy in response to this development, but many thought it was probably better to have limited shuttles on Mt. Hollywood Drive than to open the road to private vehicular traffic. Results of the shuttle service were environmentally destructive as the behavior of visitors using the shuttles was not monitored. At the meeting, Gerry Hans, President of Friends of Griffith Park, showed photos he had taken at shuttle van stop #1 and at water tank #116. These photos showed new, unsafe trails cut by visitors, people sliding down hillsides, huge graffiti spray-painted on boulders, and trash, including cigarette butts, strewn everywhere. A line of traffic cones did not enhance the “wilderness” ambiance.

Starting March 20, a pilot project reopened the 1.1 mile section of Mt. Hollywood Drive to personal vehicular traffic. Mt. Hollywood Drive, as most readers will know, connects with Western Canyon on the west and with Vermont Canyon on the east. The intersection is near the Berlin Forest, north of the Observatory. There is a gate that kept  motor vehicles off Mt. Hollywood Drive. This is now opened every morning at 10 a.m. to allow motorists to chug up Mt. Hollywood Drive as far as the 3-Mile Tree. Those stalwarts willing to walk can make their way to the Mulholland Trail, which connects to Mt. Hollywood Dr. and winds west to connect with Mt. Lee Drive.

Reopening a section of Mt. Hollywood Drive to personal vehicles was suggested by Councilmember Tom LaBonge in 2011. He initially proposed that a third-of-a-mile segment be re-opened. There would be a turnaround and a “Hollywood Sign Experience” kiosk. Park advocates opposed that plan, arguing that the road closure in 1992 made Griffith Park safer and resulted in benefits to both animal and plant communities in the area.

“What we’re really attempting to do is create additional parking capacity in Griffith Park,” said Kevin Regan. On high demand days in the park, there is heavy vehicular traffic. Friends of Griffith Park maintains that the traffic congestion problem “can only be solved by reducing the number of vehicles entering the park, not by making more parking available beyond the points where the traffic itself is problematic.” Joe Salaices, Superintendent of Griffith Park, admitted that he would like shuttles from the Burbank and Glendale Metrolink stations and from the closest Redline stops to take people into the park, limiting personal vehicular traffic as much as possible.

For the time being, however, Regan and Salaices say they have the support of Mayor Garcetti and of neighborhood groups in Beachwood Canyon, Atwater, Los Feliz and the Hollywood Knolls for their project. Regan is optimistic about it. He believes that, if people are told exactly how to get to the Hollywood Sign, they will go that way and not meander all over the hillsides looking for a road to the sign.

Details of the pilot plan

When the pilot project is over (It is supposed to last three weeks.) there will be a charge for parking on Mt. Hollywood Drive. What the appropriate fees will be has yet to be determined. Both the City Charter and the Administrative Code apparently allow the parks department to charge fees, which can then be put into a parks fund. I asked how parking payment would be implemented. This has not been decided. Motorists should pass through a kiosk and be greeted by a park ranger, said Joe Salaices.

Stakeholders at the meeting pointed out that Griffith Park should not become the Hollywood Sign Experience, and they observed that it seemed as though local hikers and bicycle riders would have to sacrifice some of their enjoyment of the park to appease tourists and homeowners. However, they were reminded that the Mt. Hollywood Drive gate would not be opened until 10 a.m. every morning. (Get your hiking done early!) A carrot dangled was that, with the revenue collected from parking fees, it might be possible to hire additional park rangers and even a biologist. More rangers and a park biologist have been on park advocates’ wish lists for years. Six full-time rangers for L.A. City parks have been hired, but they are not yet on the job.

If parking fees end up pouring into the city's parks department piggybank, what will be the outcome? Will parking reservations have to be made on-line? Will some sort of parking meters pop up on Mt. Hollywood Drive and elsewhere? Will a Hollywood Sign Experience gift shop materialize? Lest you think these might be foolish fantasies, Mike Shull, General Manager of the city's parks and recreation department, predicts a take of $4 million to $5 million a year from parking fees on Mt. Hollywood Drive, Western Canyon and the Observatory lot. The parks department also is rumored to be considering an investment in an aerial tram. This would likely start in the park and swoop towards Mt. Lee, upon which sits the Hollywood Sign. A directive is said to have come from the Mayor’s office urging that money be made from the sign. On the first day of the pilot project, park employees were eagerly questioning motorists: “Where are you folks from? How did you find out about the reopening of this road?” The usual stream of hikers and runners were not of interest.

Keep Griffith Park wild

There has always been a tug of war between the vision of the park as an urban wilderness belonging primarily to the plants and animals that live there and secondarily to local users who are willing to engage in low impact, passive recreation, and a vision of the park as a cash register—a venue for music festivals, product launches, Haunted Hayrides, Little League baseball and, perhaps a Hollywood Sign Experience.

Mike Eberts, author of the definitive history of Griffith Park, wrote a commentary for the Los Angeles Times after the L.A. riots in 1992.

“Los Angeles is more than burning storefronts and quivering ground. Relaxing and benign places exist in our complex city. The upper section of Griffith Park is one of them…. To us, Griffith Park is more than a home to the observatory, Los Angeles zoo, Travel Town and other attractions. It is an island of wilderness in a sea of development….Rid of cars, the upper section of Griffith Park is something rare and precious. It is a piece of Los Angeles that works….Take cars off these roads permanently. Let this small sliver of our city grow with nature, not blacktop. Let it be a haven for anyone wishing to escape the maddening din below.”

Do you share Mike Eberts’ vision? Express your views to Michael A. Shull, General Manager; City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department; 1200 West 7th St., 4th floor; Los Angeles, CA 90017. You can e-mail him at michael.a.shull@lacity.org.