$100 Million Hollywood Sign Sky Tram Proposal Stirs Debate

HOLLYWOOD, CA — If Warner Bros. gets its way, a $100 million skyway would carry visitors soaring above the city to the Hollywood Sign.

It's a tempting proposal for many in the surrounding community tired of the safety and parking problems created by throngs of tourists who come by the thousands to see the iconic landmark. Others, however, see it as the latest effort to commercialize Griffith Park and threaten the wildlife.

The Los Angeles city councilman who represents the Hollywood Hills area remained neutral Tuesday on the idea of an aerial tram to the Hollywood Sign, a day after Warner Bros. came forward with the proposal.

“There's going to be a lot of people pushing for the tram for the relief it will provide the local residents,” Gerry Hans, a board member for the nonprofit group Friends of Griffith Park told the Los Angeles Times. “But at the same time there are going to be people wanting to preserve Griffith Park for the great urban wilderness it is.”

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Warner Bros.' Jon Gilbert, told the newspaper his company would design a project that minimizes the impact on the environment and the animals of Griffith Park.

“This requires a bold solution,” Gilbert told the newspaper. “If we really want to make a difference ... it's got to be something compelling. Partial solutions are not going to do the trick, and people will continue to inundate the neighborhoods.”

The idea of an aerial tram to the Hollywood Sign as way to cut down on traffic and congestion is not new. Mayor Eric Garcetti said he was open to the idea last year, and it was also included in a January report to the City Council that included more than two dozen ideas about improving access to the famed sign.

The City Council is still assessing the report, and Councilman David Ryu has not endorsed any of the proposals in the report from Dixon Resources Unlimited while the council is analyzing them.

Ryu spokesman Estevan Montemayor said the councilman would take the same approach to the proposal from Warner Bros.

"Councilmember Ryu is committed to a solution-driven process to the safety, mobility and access issues around the Hollywood Sign," Montemayor said. "Upon return from the City Council recess, city officials will continue to discuss the feasibility of various proposed solutions, including transportation proposals such as a shuttle or aerial tram with the full participation of community stakeholders."

The Dixon study was commissioned by the City Council at Ryu's suggestion as a way to find solutions to the increased problem in recent years of people driving or hiking to the Hollywood Sign since the advent of traffic applications such as Waze have made it much easier to get close to the tourist attraction.

Warner Bros. proposed installing an aerial tram at a parking structure next to the company's Burbank lot that would take visitors on a six-minute ride more than 1 mile up the back of Mt. Lee to a new visitors center near the sign, with pathways to a viewing area, the Los Angeles Times reported.

It's the second major proposal for a privately funded aerial tram or gondola in the Los Angeles area. A company owned by former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt recently proposed building one from Union Station to the parking lot of Dodger Stadium. That proposal was advanced to a second stage of consideration in June by Metro, the county transit agency.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report. Photo: The Hollywood Sign is seen high above drying vegetation in Griffith Park on March 29, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. A record-breaking series of unusual heat waves this month makes this the first March to have had six days with highs in the 90s or above in Los Angeles since at least 1877 when record-keeping began. Temperatures have averaged 10 degrees above normal almost every day and very little rain has fallen as a fourth year of extreme drought continues to worsen in California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)