Cahuenga Peak Fundraising Deadline Extended To April 30th

Photo by Hope Anderson Productions

Today’s press conference at the Hollywood Sign announced the fundraising effort has come up $1 million short; on the bright side, the deadline has been extended by 16 days.

This would be the time for some generous celebrities to get out their checkbooks. Ready? Go!

Deadline for Cahuenga Peak: Press Conference at the Hollywood Sign Scheduled for Wednesday, April 14th

MEDIA ADVISORY
 
Save the Peak Campaign Announcement
Los Angeles (April 12, 2010) – Councilmember Tom LaBonge and officials from the Trust for Public Land will make a major announcement regarding the Save Cahuenga Peak campaign on Wednesday, April 14th at 9 a.m.
 
Wednesday is the announced deadline for the campaign to raise $12.5 million to acquire Cahuenga Peak, a 138-acre parcel just to the west of the landmark HOLLYWOOD sign.
 
Councilmember LaBonge has been working for nine years to set aside $5.3 million in public and private park funds to acquire Cahuenga Peak from property owners who have threatened to develop the land for luxury residential housing.  The City partnered with the Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation organization, to raise private funds to cover the balance of funds needed.
 
The campaign has attracted donations from Hollywood stars, inspired an outpouring of support from the local community, which raised more than $9,000 at a rally last Saturday. 
 
WHAT:     Update on “Save the Peak” campaign
 
WHEN:      Wednesday, April 14, 2010.  Press conference begins at 9 a.m.  Shuttles to site begin at 8:30 a.m.
 
WHERE:    The Hollywood Sign
                  (Meet at the Beachwood Market, 2701 Belden Dr., Los Angeles, CA90068 and we will shuttle you up to the sign.)
 
WHO:          Councilmember Tom LaBonge, 4th District, City of Los Angeles
                  Will Rogers, President of The Trust For Public Land
                  Leron Gubler, CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce
                  L.A. Dept. of Recreation and Parks
                  Members of the Beachwood Canyon neighborhood
Media Contact:  Carolyn Ramsay (213) 359-3593
ph: (213)485-3337  fx:  (213)624-7810

Scenes from Today’s Rally at Lake Hollywood Park

Save the Peak Rally to be held Saturday, April 10th, at Lake Hollywood Park

Photo by Hope Anderson Productions

 With 4 days left until the April 14th deadline, the rally supports the Trust for Public Land’s drive to Save the Peak. The Park is located on the 3200 block of Canyon Lake Drive. See you there!

The Trust for Public Land’s Drive to Save the Peak

Photo by Hope Anderson Productions

Each week without fail, the piece that gets the most hits on my blog is “Howard Hughes, Ginger Rogers and the Property on Cahuenga Peak.” (The most frequent search term leading to this site is invariably “Howard Hughes.”)

With less than a month to go before the April 14th deadline to purchase the Cahuenga Peak parcel from Fox River Financial, the Trust for Public Land has begun an online fundraising campaign. Interested readers can go to www.savehollywoodland.org to learn more about the campaign and to donate.

How to Cover the Hollywood Sign: A Primer

 

"Save the Peak" February 15, 2010/Hope Anderson Productions

Ever since “Save the Peak” I’ve been wondering how the covers for the Hollywood Sign were made. Did someone get an enormous tape measure or was some other, easier method employed? Today I found out via a random phone call from Raiden Peterson, who appears in my documentary, “Under the Hollywood Sign.”

Raiden was Pacific Outdoor Advertising’s construction supervisor in charge of rebuilding the Hollywood Sign in 1978. In order to perfectly replicate the original, Raiden personally measured each letter of the old Sign; he has blueprints and pictures to prove it. Rather than go to all that bother again, the organizers of “Save the Peak” simply contacted him for the specs, and voila!–Sign covers.

Raiden doesn’t think they looked all that great either, but at least they fit.

SAVE THE PEAK: Not a Hit with Tourists

The Sign Today/Hope Anderson Productions

The Hollywood Sign now reads SAVE THE PEAK, an alteration that fulfills the Sign’s original function as a billboard. But the transformation has been crushing to the tourists who normally throng Beachwood Canyon to take pictures of the Sign. When the project began, some reportedly asked for refunds from tour bus drivers; now, two days into SAVE THE PEAK, there has been a dearth of open vans taking tourists up to Canyon Lake Drive, loudspeakers blaring.

Thanks to their absence, Hollywoodland has been especially peaceful this Presidents’ Day Weekend. Now if Under the Hollywood Sign could just do something about her noisy neighbors, she’d be in heaven.