Hugh Hefner Saves Hollywood

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 26th 2010 at 11:02PM

There's joy in Hollywood tonight, the 138 acres behind the Hollywood sign will go into a public land trust. The hotly contested land on Cahuenga Peak is zoned for luxury homes and there was fear that it would be sold to developers if $12.5 million wasn't raised to buy and protect the land. And here's where good old Hugh steps in. Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner made a $900,000 donation at the last minute so that the conservation group "Trust for Public Land" could buy the land. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that Hefner was the final donor. Schwarzenegger was quoted in the LA Times praising the donation and result as "the Hollywood ending we hoped for."

Hefner released a statement calling the Hollywood sign Hollywood's Eiffel Tower and "an important cultural landmark." Other donations came from Arianne Getty, Tiffany & Co. jewelers, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. The sign itself is owned by Los Angeles but the land behind it belonged to investors who could have sold the rights to build four luxury mansions along the ridgeline for a tidy fortune (they were hoping for $22 million). The land will now be become part of the 4,200-acre Griffith Park sprawl. Recently the conservation group covered the Hollywood sign so that it instead read "Save the Peak."

Tags: arnold schwarzenegger, cahuenga, hollywood sign, hugh hefner, playboy, save the peak

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

C.K. Dexter-Haven Apr 27th 2010 1:29AM

THANK GOD!!! It would have been way past awful for that sign, that icon, to be replaced with ANYTHING.
WAY TO GO, HEF. (and everyone else who gave $)

Corey Apr 27th 2010 3:36AM

How pathetic. The people who made their careers due to Hollywood, millions and millions of dollars, and the people trying to save the sign had to scrounge.

John Apr 27th 2010 10:19AM

C.K. - the sign itself was never in danger, it was the land near the sign.

Corey - I live in the hills right below the sign, and the story is a bit more complicated. The developers got the land very cheaply and even at 12m are cashing in big time. It is also doubtful they would've been able to actually build up there. Building codes in the hills are very, very strict which is why you don't see much new construction here. Before you deride anyone as pathetic, do a little research.

C.K. Dexter-Haven Apr 27th 2010 5:57PM

I didn't realize that...Thanks John...

Corey Apr 27th 2010 11:39AM

Wow, my comment went WHOOSH! right over your head.

People like Cruise, Hanks, Lucas, Jolie, every big star in the past 20 years even can't chip in $ to buy the land? They seem to have no problem dropping several million for their 3rd, 4th, 5th house.

Just goes to show what selfish bastages they really are. The sign is an icon, Hollywood gave them their lifestyles and they can't bother to part with a minute bit of their yearly earnings even.

Just look at the actors and producers and directors who have movies currently have movies out that could have EASILY donated the money for the land.

What excuse do you make for them?

John Apr 27th 2010 8:16PM

My point is that this land was never in real danger of being developed. It was a money grab on the part of developers. They threaten to develop land that would be very hard to actually build on, and they get people to pay for "saving" it. Understand now? No, your point didn't "Whoosh" over my head, you just didn't read mine. I live here, so have an idea as to what is happening. Take a step back and read up on it.