![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Hikers-under-Hollywood-sign.jpg\")
<\/a>The Hollywood Sign: even bigger than you thought when you hike up to it.<\/p><\/div>\n
While I can\u2019t say I remember hikes taken at three and four years old, I have fond memories of hiking Griffith Park in the many years since: as a Boy Scout, during my college days at the University of Southern California, on Sierra Club-led hikes. I introduced my own children, teenagers now, to the pleasures of hiking in the park, and have always enjoyed taking out-of-town guests from across the country and around the world up to Mt. Hollywood and of course the HOLLYWOOD Sign.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve often hiked for pleasure\u2014and for business, too. It seems Griffith Park is a very convenient location for reporters to interview a hiking expert and The Trailmaster has shared his expertise about hiker safety, the best trails in L.A., hiking for good health and many more topics while walking park trails. During my 18-year stint as the Los Angeles Times hiking columnist, I often wrote stories about Griffith Park trails and these accounts proved to be among the most popular with readers.<\/p>\n
Griffith Park History<\/h2>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Griffith-Griffith001-236x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Industrialist and philanthropist Griffith J. Griffith, quite the colorful character, donated land to the city of Los Angeles for a park.<\/p><\/div>\n
Hiking Griffith Park and the Hollywood Hills has been a favorite pastime for Angelenos for more than 100 years. By some accounts, members of the Sierra Club\u2019s Angeles Chapter have been leading hikes in Griffith Park since the 1940s.<\/p>\n
The attraction of hiking the hills has long been getting away from it all without having to travel far to do so. And it continues today. Centrally located it is, but no one who is a hiker would refer to Griffith Park as the \u201cCentral Park of Los Angeles;\u201d Griffith is much larger, much wilder and much more rugged than its New York City counterpart.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife seems healthier and slower-paced in this nearby wilderness,\u201d wrote Mike Eberts, avid hiker and author of Griffith Park: A Centennial History. \u201cTwigs, not tempers, snap here. It\u2019s quite a contrast from a surrounding city that often seems tense, dense, polluted and pooped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of the park\u2019s most colorful figures have praised the wonders of this natural haven in the midst of the metropolis. It was an honor and a privilege for me to walk with and talk with Griffith Park legends Charlie Turner (Dante Orgolini\u2019s longtime successor as caretaker of Dante\u2019s View) and botanist-ranger-historian extraordinaire Bill Eckert. I\u2019ll always remember the founder of Amir\u2019s Garden, Amir Dialameh, who lived by the motto: \u201cIn the land of the free, plant a tree.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy secrets to a healthy and happy life…\u201d Amir revealed to me one day as he tended his garden on the shoulder of Mt. Hollywood. \u201cBeing out in nature at least five days a week, staying away from doctors and lawyers, and hiking, lots of hiking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hollywood Hills<\/h2>\n
Outside the boundaries of Griffith Park, several other locales in the Hollywood Hills beckon the hiker. \u201cHollywood Hills,\u201d the affluent neighborhood, measures just seven square miles, but the hills available for hiking are much more extensive and extend all the way from the western boundary of Griffith Park to\u2026?<\/p>\n
![\"HIKE](\"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/hike-griffith-park-hollywood-hills_633883555ba3d-194x300.jpeg\")
<\/a>Good question! Where do the Hollywood Hills \u201cend\u201d and the Santa Monica Mountains \u201cbegin?\u201d Of course\u00a0\u201cHollywood Hills\u201d is just another name for the eastern portion of the Santa Monica Mountains; the difference in names is really about historical usage and cultural identification rather than geography. Certainly no official boundary line marks the two.<\/p>\nFeel free to disagree if you think I wrongly assigned trails in Wilacre Park in the wilds of Studio City or Franklin Canyon in the Beverly Hills backcountry to the Hollywood Hills. Be assured, though, that The Trailmaster has covered his bets and all the best trails in the range are described in this guide\u2019s sister publication, HIKE the Santa Monica Mountains.<\/p>\n
The Hollywood Hills are known to millions around the world for the presence of the HOLLYWOOD Sign. Many tourists, hikers and not, mistakenly believe the iconic landmark rests atop Mt. Hollywood in Griffith Park rather than on the summit of nearby Mt. Lee outside the park. I always enjoy the smiles on the faces of visitors as they make the pilgrimage to the top of the sign.<\/p>\n
![\"From](\"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Griffith-Park-Vermont-Cyn-entrance-on-way-to-mt-hollywood-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>From Griffith Park’s Vermont Canyon entrance, the trail leads through a sycamore grove.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Industrialist and philanthropist Griffith J. Griffith, quite the colorful character, donated land to the city of Los Angeles for a park.<\/p><\/div>\n
Hiking Griffith Park and the Hollywood Hills has been a favorite pastime for Angelenos for more than 100 years. By some accounts, members of the Sierra Club\u2019s Angeles Chapter have been leading hikes in Griffith Park since the 1940s.<\/p>\n
The attraction of hiking the hills has long been getting away from it all without having to travel far to do so. And it continues today. Centrally located it is, but no one who is a hiker would refer to Griffith Park as the \u201cCentral Park of Los Angeles;\u201d Griffith is much larger, much wilder and much more rugged than its New York City counterpart.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife seems healthier and slower-paced in this nearby wilderness,\u201d wrote Mike Eberts, avid hiker and author of Griffith Park: A Centennial History. \u201cTwigs, not tempers, snap here. It\u2019s quite a contrast from a surrounding city that often seems tense, dense, polluted and pooped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of the park\u2019s most colorful figures have praised the wonders of this natural haven in the midst of the metropolis. It was an honor and a privilege for me to walk with and talk with Griffith Park legends Charlie Turner (Dante Orgolini\u2019s longtime successor as caretaker of Dante\u2019s View) and botanist-ranger-historian extraordinaire Bill Eckert. I\u2019ll always remember the founder of Amir\u2019s Garden, Amir Dialameh, who lived by the motto: \u201cIn the land of the free, plant a tree.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy secrets to a healthy and happy life…\u201d Amir revealed to me one day as he tended his garden on the shoulder of Mt. Hollywood. \u201cBeing out in nature at least five days a week, staying away from doctors and lawyers, and hiking, lots of hiking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hollywood Hills<\/h2>\n
Outside the boundaries of Griffith Park, several other locales in the Hollywood Hills beckon the hiker. \u201cHollywood Hills,\u201d the affluent neighborhood, measures just seven square miles, but the hills available for hiking are much more extensive and extend all the way from the western boundary of Griffith Park to\u2026?<\/p>\n
Feel free to disagree if you think I wrongly assigned trails in Wilacre Park in the wilds of Studio City or Franklin Canyon in the Beverly Hills backcountry to the Hollywood Hills. Be assured, though, that The Trailmaster has covered his bets and all the best trails in the range are described in this guide\u2019s sister publication, HIKE the Santa Monica Mountains.<\/p>\n The Hollywood Hills are known to millions around the world for the presence of the HOLLYWOOD Sign. Many tourists, hikers and not, mistakenly believe the iconic landmark rests atop Mt. Hollywood in Griffith Park rather than on the summit of nearby Mt. Lee outside the park. I always enjoy the smiles on the faces of visitors as they make the pilgrimage to the top of the sign.<\/p>\n From Griffith Park’s Vermont Canyon entrance, the trail leads through a sycamore grove.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a>Good question! Where do the Hollywood Hills \u201cend\u201d and the Santa Monica Mountains \u201cbegin?\u201d Of course\u00a0\u201cHollywood Hills\u201d is just another name for the eastern portion of the Santa Monica Mountains; the difference in names is really about historical usage and cultural identification rather than geography. Certainly no official boundary line marks the two.<\/p>\n<\/a>