Hollywood Sign Viewpoint - Level 4 at Ovation

A stop on Hollywood Boulevard Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Look north over the rooftops to the hills, and there it is: the Hollywood Sign, on the south face of Mount Lee in Griffith Park, a couple of miles away. It looks small from here, but each letter stands about 45 feet tall.

The sign began as an advertisement. In 1923 developers put up HOLLYWOODLAND in giant white letters, lit with thousands of light bulbs, to sell lots in a new hillside neighborhood. It was only meant to last about a year and a half. In 1949 the city's parks department took it over and removed LAND, and by the 1970s the old letters were falling apart. In 1978 nine donors each paid for a new letter, and the sign you see dates from then.

You cannot hike up and touch it: the sign is fenced off and watched by security cameras, which makes viewpoints like this one the way to see it. The courtyard below once copied a silent-film set, with giant elephant statues; a remodel finished in 2023 replaced it with a garden-like plaza.

Getting here: Ride the escalators up through Ovation Hollywood to the fourth-level bridge over the courtyard and face north toward the hills.

Did you know?: Among the 1978 donors, Alice Cooper sponsored an O in memory of Groucho Marx, and Hugh Hefner's gift paid for the Y.

Photo op: Use your zoom and frame the sign between the buildings; mornings usually bring the clearest air before haze builds.

More on Wikipedia: Hollywood Sign · Mount Lee · Griffith Park · Ovation Hollywood

Hollywood Sign Viewpoint - Level 4 at Ovation

Stops on this tour