For sale: Land next to HOLLYWOOD sign

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The world-famous HOLLYWOOD sign that has been used by TV and movie directors in more scene-setting shots than a film student could ever count was first erected in 1923 to promote real estate in the fledgling capital of celluloid.

Eighty-five years later, some fear the sign and the hillside on which it sits are threatened by, yes, a real estate deal.

An investment group that owns 138 sage-covered acres above and to the left of the 45-foot-high, steel-and-concrete H put the land up for sale last month for $22 million.

Some Los Angeles residents are afraid mansions will be built there, spoiling the sign's uncluttered, postcard-perfect backdrop. They worry, too, that the land will no longer be accessible to the hikers, sightseers and romantics who often climb the hill for solitude and a panoramic view of the Los Angeles basin. Slideshow: The land at stake »

Residents led by a city councilman are fighting to preserve the parcel, known as Cahuenga Peak.

"That is our Eiffel Tower," Councilman Tom LaBonge said. "There is the Hollywood sign. There is the open space. And that's all there is. This is ours and it should remain ours."

The parcel has a distinctly Hollywood back story: It was once owned by billionaire Howard Hughes.

Lore has it that Hughes bought it in 1940 -- 17 years after the publisher of the Los Angeles Times spelled out his plans for a nearby subdivision in King Kong-size letters -- with dreams of building an estate to share with Ginger Rogers.

The romance fizzled -- Rogers later said the idea of being holed up with the tycoon on the isolated hilltop gave her the willies _ and Hollywood's highest crest was left to the deer, the coyotes and the visitors who ignore the no-trespassing signs.

In fact, most people here assumed the property had long ago fallen into the public domain. That is, until Fox River Financial Resources, the Chicago investors who quietly purchased the peak from Hughes' estate for $1.7 million in 2002, put the one-of-a-kind parcel on the market recently.

Based on the bargain-basement price paid by the investors, it appears the Hughes estate's trustees were unaware of what it was worth or too busy managing the billionaire's vast holdings to care, said Ernie Carswell, a real estate agent handling the property.

Either way, the current asking price stems from valuable information the owners unearthed aftehich is instantly recognizable around the world.

"It's true the Hollywood sign was originally a sign to help sell development. But by 1945 the City Council of Los Angeles had made it the official iconic sign of Los Angeles," Wanamaker said. "It's just become part of the culture and landmark status of Los Angeles, extremely important."

Carswell said there is something ironic about the effort to block real estate development around the site.

"Those letters were a real estate developer's advertisement. That's the whole way the sign got there," he said. "So I think it's the perfect circle." E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

All About Hollywood • Hollywood Hills