If you’re thinking of hiking the Hollywood Hills this weekend forgo starting at the Hollyridge Trail at the top of Beachwood Canyon. It’ll be closed for installation of a heavy duty wrought iron gate for the next six weeks to deter tourists and hikers from hiking to the Hollywood sign after hours.
The popularity of the Hollyridge Trail which leads hikers up a trail, with views of the Hollywood sign and eventually to a peak above and behind the sign, has many Beachwood area residents upset for the increase in auto and pedestrian traffic on tight neighborhood streets. Residents have worked hard to close the trail completely claiming there is a crisis of traffic that leads to unsafe conditions for area residents, not to mention constant bottleneck on the tight winding roads.
Councilman Tom La Bonge told the LA Times the new gate was temporary. “There’s a necessity for a gate at this location because of its overwhelming popularity,” he said. The gate is primarily to stop people from entering the trail from dusk to dawn when the trail is officially closed, but while the gate is under construction we understand the trail will be closed during the day too.
It could be difficult to get that message across to the hundreds of intrepid tourists who swarm up Beachwood each week after finding directions online, hoping to take a selfie in front of the Hollywood sign.
In any case, we locals aren’t going to share the longer, scenic hike that gets you to the top via another route.
KCRW interviewed Kevin Roderick of LA Observed this week about the trail closing:
