With the Olympics coming and anticipated growth in tourism on the horizon, Los Angeles city leaders are starting to look into ways to improve traffic flow and public access at Griffith Park, which boasts such popular landmarks as the Hollywood Sign and the Griffith Observatory.
Councilman David Ryu, who represents a district that includes the park, released findings from a city-commissioned study Wednesday that aims to address complaints about traffic congestion and improve the way people get around the longtime attraction.
Some of the ideas proposed in the report include an electric shuttle to take visitors to see the Hollywood Sign, a second sign on the other side of Griffith Park, the creation of a new trail and an aerial tram or gondola.
“The Hollywood Sign and Griffith Park are being loved to death,” Ryu said. “This is a world-renowned icon, and possibly the only one without proper access to it. It’s like having the Statue of Liberty without a visitor’s center, viewing platform, or even a sign telling you how to get to it.”
Ryu described the situation as “unsustainable and unsafe.”
“I look forward to looking at the specifics of the feasibility of these strategies,” he said.
The high volume of visitors who want to enjoy the park’s natural beauty and familiar landmarks has generated controversy over the years, particularly around foot and car traffic residential neighborhoods near trails taking people to the sign. Issues of access to Griffith Park are often mired in lawsuits.
A recent example of such flare-ups was the closure of the Beachwood Canyon entrance to the Hollyridge Trail, a fast route to the Hollywood Sign, following a court decision last April stemming from a lawsuit filed by an equestrian business. Owners of the business at the edge of Griffith Park said the constant foot traffic impeded their customers’ and employees’ access to a city-owned road.
The closure of the popular trailhead came at the relief of some residents fed up by the presence of tourists, but it also angered other residents who had enjoyed living near a quick hike to the Hollywood Sign. Some residents joined visitors and proponents of public parks access, such as the Friends of Griffith Park, to protest the closure. A lawsuit was filed last year by the Friends group to try to re-open the Hollyridge trailhead.
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So it was not entirely out of place last year when Mayor Eric Garcetti, during a television interview, tossed out the seemingly fanciful idea of building a gondola that would skip the residential areas and ferry tourists straight to the Hollywood Sign.
While Garcetti has not seriously pursued the gondola idea since, the Dixon analysts did see some potential in it, recommending that the city treat it as a “medium” priority idea that might work as a long-term, though expensive option.
But there are also nearly 30 other ideas in the report, with Dixon designating some strategies – such as installing more wayfinding signs and setting up ride-sharing zones – as among the highest priority. They also recommended the creation of a new trail near Lake Hollywood as a mid-level-priority idea.
Ryu introduced a motion Wednesday calling for city staffers to study all of the ideas in Dixon’s report.
Among the high priority options that Dixon identified could potentially re-open the access to the Hollyridge Trail that was closed last year.
The report recommends using an electric shuttle to take hikers and tourists through the residential Beachwood Canyon neighborhood and past the horse stable, the owners of which filed the lawsuit that led to the trailhead closure.
That idea appeared to be a good one to Kris Sullivan, a 29-year resident of Beachwood Canyon who wants the trailhead re-opened. She said it could potentially alleviate the tourist- and traffic-related concerns of some of her neighbors.
“I would much rather have an electric shuttle going up the street than 2,000 cars,” Sullivan said. “It’s quiet, it’s clean and takes the place of a lot of cars.”
She said that in general she was pleasantly surprised by many of the ideas, which she thinks might be a departure from some of the more polarizing fixes that have been offered in the past. She also noted the release of the report now gives the city enough time to prepare for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
“We have plenty of time to implement a lot of these ideas that will take care of traffic problems and numbers of tourists before the Olympics happen – plenty of time as long as the city has the will to spend the money and time get this done,” she said.
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Gerry Hans, a board member of Friends of Griffith Park, said that as a way of re-opening the Beachwood Canyon trailhead, the electric shuttle would only be a partial fix.
“It’s still locking out pedestrians from walking through there,” he said. “I think the local residents and any hikers who would want to should have access by foot as well.”
Chris Baumgart, chair of the Hollywood Sign Trust, noted that with the anticipated growth in tourism to Los Angeles, the lack of a clear plan and improvements could intensify the existing issues facing residents near Griffith Park and its landmarks.
So the study represents an “important step forward” that looks at a wide range of ideas, he said.
“These neighborhood streets and the residents’ safety need relief from the global tourism that is coming to California with GPS and cameras in hand, wanting to memorialize their visit,” he said.
