Asia-Pacific

Playboy's Hugh Hefner helps rescue Hollywood sign

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-27 14:08

LOS ANGELES - Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner on Monday donated the last $900,000 sought by a conservation group for a land purchase needed to save the famed vista of the Hollywood sign from being spoiled by development.

Playboy's Hugh Hefner helps rescue Hollywood sign

A temporary draping of the Hollywood sign that reads "Save the Peak" is seen in Los Angeles February 15, 2010 file photo. Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner on April 26, 2010 donated the last $900,000 sought by a conservation group for a land purchase needed to save the famed view of the Hollywood sign from being spoiled by development. [Agencies]

Conservationists had until this Friday to raise $12.5 million to buy the hilltop ridge called Cahuenga Peak, adjacent to the Hollywood sign, from a group of Chicago investors who had plans to build luxury homes on the property.

They had acquired the 1,820-foot- (555-meter-) tall peak in 2002 from the estate of billionaire Howard Hughes.

City officials have since worried that development of the 138-acre (56-hectare) parcel would mar the postcard-perfect view of the iconic sign, whose four-story-high "H" stands just to the east of and slightly below Cahuenga Peak.

After years of fretting and on-off negotiations between Los Angeles officials and the site's owners, the San Francisco-based Trust for Public Land stepped in and struck a deal to buy the peak on the city's behalf for a price set by an independent appraisal.

The original deadline for raising the money was extended by two weeks after the land trust came up $1.5 million short of the $12.5 million total.

Hefner's key role in filling the gap was announced by city officials, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the land trust at a news conference in the Hollywood Hills.

'HOLLYWOOD'S EIFFEL TOWER'

"My childhood dreams and fantasies came from the movies, and the images created in Hollywood had a major influence on my life and Playboy," Hefner, 84, said in a statement. "As I've said before, the Hollywood sign is Hollywood's Eiffel Tower and I'm pleased to help preserve such an important cultural landmark."

Said Schwarzenegger: "Of all the iconic landmarks in the world, the Hollywood sign is truly one of the most recognizable symbols of the California dream and land of opportunity."

The trust will now exercise its option to purchase Cahuenga Peak in the next two months, then turn it over to the city to be incorporated into the surrounding acreage of Griffith Park.

The investment group, Fox River Financial, will make a tidy return on the original $1.6 million it paid for the site, which was listed for sale over a year ago for $22 million.

Money for the purchase came from a mix of public and private dollars, including $3 million from state bonds and major gifts from the Tiffany & Co. Foundation, a New York-based charity dedicated to preservation causes, and philanthropist Aileen Getty.

Other private donors to the Hollywood sign preservation effort included actor Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg, the land trust said.

The Hollywood sign on Mount Lee originally read "Hollywoodland" and was erected to promote a housing development in 1923. The last few letters deteriorated in the late 1940s, and the part that remained was restored in 1978.

Lesser-known Cahuenga Peak has its own history. It was purchased by Hughes, the reclusive aircraft mogul turned filmmaker, as the planned site of a love nest for actress Ginger Rogers in the 1940s, but their relationship ended and the house was never built.