Best ways to see the iconic Hollywood sign

The Hollywood sign debuted in 1923 as a flashy advertisement, a blinking 50-foot-tall promo for an upscale housing development above the rapidly booming movie capital of Hollywood. It was meant to last for only 18 months. 

Yet the sign is celebrating its 100th anniversary on December 8 of this year, having endured decades of dramatic ups and downs (including being obliterated in several movies) to become an international star in its own right. 

You can’t legally get close enough to the Hollywood sign to touch it, as ensured by constantly monitored closed-circuit cameras and motion detectors. But here’s how you can get near enough to experience incredible views of the sign and capture fantastic photos.

It’s not a quick jaunt (5 miles round-trip), but the Brush Canyon Trail takes you to either the Tyrolian Tank viewing area and its lovely unobstructed front view of the sign, or to Mount Lee Drive, which puts you directly above and behind the sign with an expansive view of L.A. It’s the closest you can get to the sign without being arrested. Limited free parking in paved lot at Camp Hollywoodland, 3200 Canyon Drive; additional parking in a dirt lot just to the south on Canyon Drive.

For a steep 3-mile hike with breathtaking views along the ridge, walk up Wonder View Drive to the top of Burbank Peak, then follow the Aileen Getty Ridge Trail to Cahuenga Peak. The hike ends with the same behind-the-sign view as the hike above. Street parking on Lake Hollywood Drive near Wonder View Drive (which has no parking).

Beloved by locals—especially dog parents—Lake Hollywood Park is one of the best spots to view the Hollywood sign. Ample street parking on Canyon Lake Drive.

Take flight with one of the many companies that offer helicopter rides past the Hollywood sign, including Orbic Air (departures from Hollywood Burbank Airport) and Group 3 Helicopters (departures from Van Nuys Airport).

Not only is Griffith Observatory a terrific—and free—attraction, but it also offers excellent views of the sign to the west. If you frame things right, you can even get James Dean in your Hollywood sign photos. (His bust on the edge of the observatory’s front courtyard honors the key scenes he shot here for Rebel Without a Cause.) 2800 E. Observatory Road.

You can take public transportation to the observatory via the DASH Observatory/Los Feliz route.

Surprisingly, the Hollywood sign is not actually in Hollywood itself—but you can catch a great view of it from one of Hollywood’s most popular attractions, the shopping and entertainment complex Ovation Hollywood (formerly Hollywood & Highland). Looking north, you can see the sign from viewing decks on multiple levels, and there’s even a miniature Hollywood sign on Level 2 that’s perfect for selfies. Plus, the Hollywood Walk of Fame is just steps away. 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

Riding a horse in the hills above Hollywood is sublime enough, but it’s made all the dreamier at Sunset Ranch Hollywood with 1- or 2-hour guided rides that offer smashing views of the sign. 3400 N. Beachwood Drive.

Each of the sign’s 9 letters has played a part in its colorful history, involving characters past and present from movies, TV, music, and more.

Either strong storms or vandals took out the letter H in 1943, leaving the neglected sign to read OLLYWOODLAND for the next 6 years. In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce replaced the H and simultaneously removed the letters L-A-N-D.

In a scene from the 1967 cult-classic documentary Mondo Hollywood, healthy-living pioneer Gypsy Boots and burlesque artist Jenny Lee exercise on and under the sign’s first O.

Among the many false rumors about the sign is that its early caretaker, Albert Kothe, dwelled in a shack behind the first L (records show that he actually lived nearby on Beachwood Drive). Still, a sweet short film called The Caretaker (2010) elaborated on this rumor. Dick Van Dyke played the man who dutifully maintained the 4,000 bulbs that lit up the sign at night.

Pranksters covered the sign’s second L with a black tarp in the wee hours of September 15, 1987, making it read HOLYWOOD to commemorate Pope John Paul II’s visit to L.A. later that day. Other unofficial sign modifications have included HOLLYWEED in 1976 and 2017, JOLLYGOOD in 1993, and HOLLYBOOB in 2021, the latter a breast cancer awareness stunt that led to 6 arrests.

Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent featured the Hollywood sign prominently in a 2009 ad campaign, with the Y—for Yves—taking center stage. The campaign featured a series of images of supermodel Claudia Schiffer posing against, in front of, and near the Y.

In the 1954 Broderick Crawford–starring FBI drama Down Three Dark Streets, Ruth Roman plays an L.A. woman plagued by an extortionist who threatens to kill her daughter unless she leaves $10,000 for him under the sign’s W. The film climaxes with a gunfight at the tattered-looking sign.

The second O has served as a wow-worthy perch in some of the sign’s most memorable movie cameos, including 2022’s Elvis, which features Austin Butler’s Presley stretched out on the O during a meeting about his 1968 TV special.

In 1978, rocker Alice Cooper led the sign’s sorely needed restoration charge when he sponsored the replacement of the third O—which by then had fallen down the hillside—in honor of his friend Groucho Marx. Other celebs and philanthropists, including Hugh Hefner, soon stepped up to sponsor the sign’s other letters at $27,777 a pop.

To drum up publicity for Cool World, a 1992 live-action/animated movie, Paramount Pictures installed a 75-foot-tall metal likeness of Holli Would—a cartoon version of co-star Kim Basinger—atop the sign’s D. Neighbors balked, and it marked the last time the sign would be altered for use in a major promotional campaign.

Since 1992, the Hollywood Sign Trust has safeguarded the 9 letters that span 350 feet on the Mount Lee hillside, watching over their maintenance, security, and legacy. It even offers close-up vistas of the sign 24 hours a day on its webcam.

“There’s an emotional tie as to why people want to see the Hollywood sign, and usually that connection has to do with aspirations, opportunity, or motivation to excel in their own lives,” says Jeff Zarrinnam, the trust’s chairman. “The sign gives them an emotional spark to go after that American dream, whatever it may be.”

To usher the sign into its next century, the trust is raising funds and exploring concepts and locations for a visitors center.

As Barbie (Margot Robbie) drives her Barbie Corvette through Barbie Land in the opening scenes of this year’s blockbuster Barbie movie, a Hollywood sign–esque BARBIELAND sign is visible on a distant hillside, a few peaks over from the Barbie Land version of Mount Rushmore. Later in the movie when Barbie visits the real world, glimpses of our own Hollywood sign can be seen from the boardroom windows at Mattel’s corporate headquarters.

The hillside behind Springfield, the fictional setting for America’s longest-running animated TV show, The Simpsons, sports a sign spelling out “Springfield” that’s unmistakably inspired by the Hollywood sign. Springfield’s sign has appeared in at least 11 episodes, as well as in The Simpsons Movie and in video games. Interestingly, the Hollywood sign itself has had cameos in several episodes of the show, including Season 7’s “Radioactive Man.”

Place-name signs from Italy to India have been inspired by L.A.’s Hollywood sign. One of the most popular sits on a sheep-dotted hillside in the village of Hollywood in County Wicklow, Ireland. Though disputed by historians, legend has it that L.A.’s Hollywood owes its name to Ireland’s Hollywood, thanks to an Irish emigrant who settled in the L.A. area. Beyond dispute is that the Emerald Isle’s HOLLYWOOD sign is having a big year too—it’s being rebuilt with sturdier materials 300 feet downhill from its current location.

Dolly Parton’s theme park in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains is 100% her own, but the Hollywood sign is key to the park’s origin story. “When I first started seeing the Hollywood sign, I kept thinking how cute it would be if I could change the H to a D—and see how long it would take anybody to notice,” she told People magazine when Dollywood opened in 1986. “It just popped into my mind that it would be a good name for a park.”

Dan Allen is a longtime travel, culture, and entertainment writer based in Hollywood. He’ll never forget the thrill of his first hike to the sign.