With the thought of the celebrity life in Los Angeles one landmark that comes to everyone’s mind is the giant “King Kong” letters H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D. For as long as I can remember I have seen this sign in countless amounts of movies and films. The sign was first constructed in 1923 to encourage real estate in the area. Ironically, eight-five years later people are afraid that the sign is currently threatened by a real estate deal. The land was put up for sale last month for the high cost of $22 million. It was put up by an investment group who owns 138 acres above and to the left of the 45 foot-high “H.” Filling you in on a little history of the sign, it was once owned by Howard Hughes. He bought it in 1940 with the intentions of building an estate for him and the love of his life Ginger Rogers. Unfortunately she was not too fond of the idea of living on an isolated hilltop and the two deserted the land. It was purchased by Fox River Financial Resources in 2002 for $1.7 million. It is quite clear that Hughes estate’s trustees were either not aware of the value of this land or too busy managing the billionaire’s enormous fortune to care.
The whole idea of selling this land brought much controversy to the public. People were very opinionated on this subject and expressed their great disappointment. One issue that the residents of Los Angeles were fearful of was that if the land was sold mansions would be built on the land. This would ruin the beautiful scenery and take away from the landmark. It would become too cluttered and the quiet, tranquil, peaceful setting it once gave off would not be there anymore. Roads would have to be built on this area of land for people to get to their homes, making it more attractable to homeowners. Also, the concern was that this land would no longer be available and easily reached by hikers, sightseers and those looking for some romantic time. If the area became too cluttered it would give this sign less of an impact on people and tourists would not want to come see it anymore. This brings less attraction to Hollywood effecting businesses, hotels, etc.
On the bright side, the landmark will always remain. No matter how much is added to the land people will always remember the amazing sign that once solely existed. It may even interest tourists to see how much this piece of land has changed over the years. It will also make those who may buy a house on the land, if they are built, very happy one day.
I feel the residents of this area should have expected the day to come when this land would be bought and houses or other things would have been added to it. We live in a world where everything has a price no matter how valuable and people are willing to pay crazy amounts of money for the things they want. Although this landmark may start to look different then what everyone is used to I feel the true meaning and feeling you get when you walk by the sign will always remain to those who have been there before.
No comments:
Post a Comment