Arguably, the 45 foot letters that present in a stark white against the dusty backdrop are as frequently sought after for the sights they offer as much as for the journey to be taken to reach them. The Hollywood Sign has over the years become synonymous with the red carpeted grandeur of America’s movie scene. Its brazen stand against the arid fauna painted beneath links it to the cloud covered dreams of the dozens of youth that have looked up to it from the streets of Hollywood.

Choosing either to take the risk of a customized trail that could land you on a promontory of rock that leads only to a gaping chasm instead of the sign or to follow one of three well-worn pilgrimages to the sign, your journey begins. In order to reach the sign, you can take up the Bush Canyon Trail where you will trek through towering sheets of packed sand and a ground littered with broken boulder across the canyon. You will make your way along flat roads of packed soil, unyielding beneath your feet without so much as a plume of dust as though the life had been sucked out of the ground together with all moisture in the area. The second leads you over the Cahuanga Peak past uneven trail roads and elusive slip offs. Arms outstretched and breath caught in your throat, you would have to contend with steep ridgeline. The final trail demands the most from you, pulling you across the tickling skeletons of scrub and brush ringing the crown of Cahuenga peak before you switch over to reach the peak of Mt Lee.

Successfully scaling the thousand feet peaks will reward you with views overlooking the sprawl of Downtown LA. Thin metal rails from the lookout deck are all that separate you from the metal beam supports holding up the sign and the long tumble to the ground looming below. Seeing the streets of Hollywood and LA laid out in this manner is similar to seeing the dreams of a million people laid bare, scattered across the ground on thin strips of tar, plastered on brick walls and affixed to steel braces. Finally, as you stand simultaneously at the top of the world and on the streets far below, you would be at the never-ending climax of your personal story.