Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti revived an old idea in the ongoing struggle for the city to manage tourist traffic around the Hollywood Sign: a gondola that can transport tourists and residents toward one of the city’s most famous landmarks.

To the dismay of local residents, the Hollywood Sign remains a top tourist destination and a magnet for traffic congestion.
(photo by Edwin Folven)

“I think we need to have access to the Hollywood sign, both for residents and people who come here,” Garcetti told ABC 7 last weekend. “We’ve got to figure out a better way that doesn’t just choke all of the streets with a thousand tour buses. People can’t get out of their own driveways.

“Could we come up from Universal Studios? Could we even have a gondola that goes up there or something that brought people there [that] would earn money that we could put back into traffic mitigation and improving the park?”

The idea has yet to formally reach City Hall, but Garcetti press secretary George Kivork said the mayor “is open to exploring ideas that ease congestion.”

“He encourages creative thinking when looking at ways to give Angelenos and tourists better access to the Hollywood Sign and other iconic landmarks and destinations,” Kivork said.

Estevan Montemayor, a communications director for Councilman David Ryu, 4th District, said the councilman is “open to” the idea of a gondola.

“His first priority is to move forward on the park access and mobility study he initiated and funded, which will provide the city with the data necessary to make future decisions around the Hollywood Sign,” Montemayor said. “He is eager to hear from the experts we’ve hired on how to best provide mitigations to impacted residential neighborhoods and increase access for hikers and park users alike.”

Anastasia Mann, president of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council, called the gondola idea “far-reaching,” but said the city needs to continue the dialogue.

“It’s a discussion that needs to be had with the community,” she said.

The city council unanimously approved the study, funded by $100,000 of Council District 4 discretionary funds, during a meeting in March. Michael Shull, general manager of the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks, said the study would help “manage the ever-growing popularity of the Greek Theatre, Griffith Observatory and Griffith Park hiking trails.”

Garcetti’s suggestion for a gondola came in the middle of a lawsuit over the closure of a popular Griffith Park access point near Beachwood Drive. The city agreed to close the access point after Sunset Ranch Hollywood Stables filed a suit over too many Griffith Park visitors inhibiting its customers’ ability to reach the ranch, and because city employees were turning away customers trying to enter the ranch. Last week, local organizations Friends of Griffith Park, Griffith J. Griffith Charitable Trust and Los Feliz Oaks Homeowners Association filed a motion to intervene in the case to restore access to the Beachwood entrance. A hearing is scheduled for June 13.