Staff Contributors
Guest Contributors

The hills

What would you build on the land near the iconic Hollywood sign?

Posted by Sarah van Schagen at 4:53 PM on 13 Feb 2008

Get out your checkbooks, folks: The mountaintop property located just above the "H" in the iconic "Hollywood" sign is now for sale. The asking price? A sweet $22 million.

Two years ago, Los Angeles officials and conservationists tried to purchase the land atop the 1,820-foot Cahuenga Peak to create a city park, but were unable to raise the funds.

No matter what is constructed there -- homes, additional words (I see an advertising opportunity, Planet Hollywood!) -- one of the city's most famous views could be forever altered.

So what would you put up there?

I'm thinking wind turbines.

Views aside...

...I doubt the area has much in the way of ecological value.  And though aesthetic pollution is important...this is the Los Angeles area were talkin' 'bout.  The area around the hollywood sign is already smeared with less than reputable land uses.

Hollywood Nights

I would do a Mountain Top Removal and Valley Fill. If the Hollywood elite don't like it then it may be something we should not be doing in other parts of the country. Just joking of course, my man Bob Segar's Song "Hollywood Nights" could not have been made on a Hollywood plateau. That is a spectacular view at night from that hill.

Its funny how you can take one part of the United States and exploit it like a backwater third world country. Expensive mountains here in Kentucky and West Virginia also but we destroy them to get the expensive stuff out to keep the lights on in cities similar to L.A.

Oh Well! If you don't fall into the ocean out there or the smog don't get ya before the Co2 levels do, plant something symbolic on that hill. A humongous statue of Dick Chaney with an Exxon or Haliburton sign for a backdrop. How about a row of corporate flags like all the flags of the different countries that fly at the U.N. Big huge wattage spotlights for effect at night.

Seriously, I would spray paint it green and construct a plastic replica deciduous forest up there. That way when ours is all gone we can come out to Hollywood and see what one looks like. We don't mind the tremors or hanging out on fault lines. The blasting and shaking here keeps us conditioned to it.It may also come in handy if you need one for a movie scene.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

Good call

Wind machines and native drought resistant plantings.  Maybe a nice nature trail.

A huge mcmansion development prjoect is probably more likely?

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

dinosaurs!

Life-sized golden dinosaurs up and down the slope; and on the ridge, with a nod to the Barosaurus/Allosaurus choreography at the American Museum of Natural History, a rearing mother Argentinosaurus defending her child from an attacking Giganotosaurus.

Or: a monastery/hermitage/retreat house, along the lines perhaps of this place in Colorado:

http://www.spirituallifeinstitute.org/Nada.html;

including a botanical garden, an apiary, a shelter for injured birds, and a petting zoo, the animals having been rescued from cruel treatment on farms.

But don't ask me where the water is supposed to come from.  : (

(People should have thought of that, though, before they ever moved to Southern California.)

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

Holly Folly World

A giant phallic symbol would fit the environs very well.  

Bad investment


Based on falling real estate values in SoCal you'd just end up with a Jumbo mortgage and depreciating asset.

I'd say wait until 2009 and buy.  By then it should be worth around $360,000.

Texeme.Construct(function(x)=Participation(x))

Mount Dick Head

If you wait until 09 the house of Saud will probably own it, purchased with our oil money. In fact I think they are buying mostly financial institutions now, they may float you a loan. Gee, I hope they don't demand Euro's.

I would make a Mount Rushmore out of it, with just Dick Chaney's head.

Sorry I see someone already has the phallic idea taken.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.
sign in
Search Gristmill
Subscribe
  • subscribe via RSSStay updated with the Gristmill RSS feed.
  • Add to My Yahoo!
  • Subscribe with Bloglines
  • Subscribe in NewsGator Online
  • Subscribe in Netvibes
  • Subscribe in Google
Using Gristmill
  • What is Gristmill?
  • Posting rules
The comments of Gristmill users reflect the opinions of those individuals only, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Grist, its staff, its board members, their psychotherapists, or their aestheticians. Got it?

Gristmill is powered by Scoop.

ADVERTISING POLICY


About Grist | Support Grist | Job Board | Archives | Grist by Email | RSS | Podcast
Gristmill Blog | In the News | Ask Umbra | Muckraker | Victual Reality | 'Tis the Season | The Grist List | The Bottom Line



Grist: Environmental News and Commentary
a beacon in the smog (tm) ©2008. Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Gloom and doom with a sense of humor®.
Webmaster | Sitemap | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Trademarks