Updated 4:17 pm: Image via Yelp; inset was included in Hollywoodland Homeowners Association newsletter with petition announcement
Updated 7/23 6:49 pm: A Hollywoodlander writes to let us know that "it now seems that the present board of the Hollywoodland Homeowners Association is officially endorsing the idea of keeping out tourist[s] from Hollywoodland..." The homeowners association is circulating a petition (their website says it's already gotten 400 signatures) that begins "As residents of the neighborhoods beneath and adjacent to the Hollywood Sign, we protest any plan that would increase tourism in our community." The Beachwood Canyon neighborhood has been split on where to send tourists--most everyone wants them away from dead-end fire access road Deronda Dr., but the HHA board has also opposed signs that pointed toward Lake Hollywood Park. Last month someone laid out a giant "Tourists Go Away" message at the end of Mulholland Highway, just up the street from the park. The petition is against a Lake Hollywood Park viewing spot specifically, but it also has more general language against all tourism in the neighborhood around the Hollywood Sign.
While a rep for area City Councilmember Tom LaBonge told us in March that LaBonge would support whatever decision the neighborhood agreed on, the Hollywood Sign Trust has been working with Google to have GPS directions point to Lake Hollywood Park (right now they point to Deronda).
According to the HHA's website (the page is taken down, but is available in cached form), "petition representatives" were scheduled to meet with LaBonge this week to ask for an "'official' position of record from La Bonge about making a public park in our neighborhood a tourist destination without consulting the residents of the highly impacted communities..." A call to LaBonge's office hasn't been returned. Here's more from the petition:
The narrow and twisting roads of our neighborhoods are not designed to accommodate a major tourist destination and the traffic influx it would create. Designating Lake Hollywood Park and its scenic view an official Hollywood sign-viewing site will permanently change the character of our neighborhoods, decrease our property values and endanger, through increased traffic and added fire hazards, our very lives. We therefore implore our 4th District Councilman, Tom LaBonge, the Los Angeles City Council, the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and the Hollywood Sign Trust and any other relevant authorities to cease the implementation or promotion of any such plan.· 400 Petition Signatures! [Hollywoodland]
· Some Beachwooders Prefer Tourists Not Find the Hollywood Sign* [Curbed LA]
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