With the threat of its sale bringing the prospect of hilltop housing development behind the city's most well-known icon, the hills near the Hollywood sign in L.A. have spurred local activists to drape a new anti-development message over the sign.
"Now, in an effort to see that it never does, a preservation group has teamed with a city councilman to quickly raise the balance of the $11.7 million needed to buy the land from a Chicago developer that acquired it from a Hughes trust and to turn it over to a local park.
To make their case, they began on Thursday to drape the sign with a banner that will read "Save the Peak" in the hope that a day or two without their most recognized civic symbol will entice Los Angelenos to donate the final $5 million needed by spring to keep mansions from dotting the ridge line around it."
138 acres of property around the sign were purchased by private investors in 2002. The Trust for Public Land is trying to raise money to buy the land back.
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