Direct results of park abuse. The overuse of HGP at the end of Deronda and Mulholland Hwy. The city allowed the Tyrolean Tank Plateau to be denuded from its original native chaparral.
Mudslides in HGP 1/9/2018 Photo courtesy Alexa Williams
They have allowed thousands of hiker/visitors to trample the area to “view the sign”. All this activity occurs just yards away from the DWP Tyrolean Gravity fed water tank. That tank is the primary water source for the residential Hollywoodland community.
Area beneath the Tyrolean Plateau. Photo courtesy Alexa Williams
The misuse of this area is unsettling and unsafe in many respects. The photo above right shows how the trampled HGP cause mudslides into the residential area. The photo above left shows the area beneath the Tyrolean Plateau.
We appreciate all you do to promote native plants. Because of your support last year – including an amazing $55,000 in year-end donations – we are able to educate and inspire countless Angelenos about the beauty and value of native plant landscapes. You know that sustainable native gardens make a difference in people’s lives and enhance the well-being of our natural habitat.Thanks to you, we’ll continue our work in 2018 and beyond.
This week, the first storm of the season arrived, causing great losses in Montecito. Closer to home, we’ve had mudslides and road closures in La Tuna Canyon, but nothing that compares…our hearts go out to our neighbors to the north.
At TPF, our sales yard and store have been hopping with gardeners who know that it’s planting time! We hope you’ll visit soon – to shop, learn, hike, relax, and enjoy all that TPF has to offer.
Lastly, it’s not too late to pick up your Theodore Payne 2018 Conservation Calendar with 12 original posters by our Artist in Residence Edward Lum – available online or at our Sun Valley HQ.
TPF Executive Director Kitty Connolly (L) with
Volunteer Louise Olson
When a need arises, our TPF volunteers are there! We especially want to thank Louise Olson, our terrific seed program volunteer, who rose to the occasion at the start of the Creek Fire in December, when, once again, we evacuated our precious archives, seed, artwork and other valuables. Having “practiced” evacuation procedures during the La Tuna Fire in September, our van and staff cars were loaded up in minutes. And this time, almost everything was moved to a single, nearby location provided by Louise. This greatly simplified storage and return of the materials. Yes, our volunteers are the best.
Volunteer activities abound at TPF, with events and projects for volunteers of every age. Our great new online system lets you specify your interests and availability, and track your volunteer hours that can be traded for classes..
We need volunteers for our upcoming Winter Sale, January 26 & 27. Duties vary, lunch is provided and hours are DOUBLED! This sale is the perfect opportunity for high school students who need to complete service hours.
We’re also taking Garden Tour Docent signups (with 45 gardens on the tour, we need around 90 volunteers). View and register for EVENTS here.
But, wait, there’s more! We need help in the bookstore and sales yard, and with K-12 field trips. Apply for PROJECTS here. Thank you!
GARDEN TOUR TICKETS
Illustration by Gene Bauer
15th Annual Theodore Payne
Native Plant Garden Tour
Saturday & Sunday, April 14 & 15. 2018
The Garden Tour is our biggest outreach event of the year and a source of inspiration for Angelenos looking to create sustainable landscapes that save water and support wildlife.
This year’s event includes 45 amazing native plant gardens in neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles County, including 21 new to the tour.
A huge thank you to our Garden Tour sponsors, including:
Susan & Dan Gottlieb
2018 CNPS CONSERVATION CONFERENCE
We’re excited that 10 TPF staff members will be making a strong presence at the 2018 CNPS Conservation Conference to be held February 1-3 in Los Angeles. We’ll be greeting more than 1000 attendees at our exhibit booth, building alliances, attending talks and workshops – and five TPF staffers will be making presentations and creating posters.
You, too, can attend. Registration for the conference ends January 14. Details.
Always wanted to work at TPF? Here’s your chance. The Theodore Payne Foundation is accepting applications for a Bookstore Assistant. The position is part-time and reports to the Bookstore and Front Office Manager.
HGP is in a state designated: Existing Significant Ecological Area and a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. Why is it being promoted as a Disneyland type area?
On September 30, 2017 3:20 AM, Moses Sherman, aka P22 was caught wandering in the 3000 block of Beachwood Drive of the Hollywoodland residential area adjacent to HGP . Archives from the HOA indicate he is not the first puma in Hollywoodland with sightings in the 1960’s, 1990’s and early 2000’s
Hiker in Distress; 7:59PM; Griffith Park; https://goo.gl/maps/ogop7Y8JYDo; PRELIM: Lost and exhausted – but uninjured – F hiker in difficult terrain NW of Hollywood sign; Will be hoisted by LAFD copter and brought to safety at nearby landing zone; No Further Details; FS 82; Batt 5; West Bureau; Council District 13; Dispatched Units: E82 RA82 E227 T27 RA90 RH214 BC5 E27 H2 H6; CH: 7; 17; – Brian Humphrey
This week some Friends of Hollywoodland Gifted Park painted at a beautiful garden in Sherman Oaks. Note the stunning Oak tree amongst the painters. Moses Sherman’s tendrils are far reaching in Los Angles County. On the drive to the valley not only did we meet in Sherman Oaks , but we passed Haskell Blvd. ( named after Arnold Haskell, Moses right hand man and later manager of his trust and the company) and Hazeltine Ave ( named after one of Moses’ daughters). Can you name other reminders of the Sherman Company that tell his story of land development and transportation?
Read the entire June 13, 2017 ruling to understand why Judge Feffer ruled to deny motion by plaintiffs Friends of Griffith Park, Griffith J. Griffith Charitable Trust and Los Feliz Homeowners Association for leave to intervene.
In 1974 , Arnold Haskell said: “Sherman was a heck of a good teacher too; he taught me everything I know about business but one thing the General wanted: he wanted his name to be perpetuated. Now I never cared for that. In 1951, when I founded the Foundation, the attorneys wanted me to call it the Arnold Haskell Foundation, because they felt that, being alive, I could accomplish more with it than if it was named after somebody that nobody knew. But I thought, well, this is the opportunity to carry on the General’s name.”
These are articles posted in the spring 2017 Sherman Library and Gardens member magazine.
Please consider joining members of the HGP and Hollywoodland Homeowners by visiting the Library. Date to be announced
People professing advocacy for Griffith Park ignore facts in their legal challenge against the City of Los Angeles.
Griffith Trust, Friends of Griffith Park (FOGP), the Oaks Homeowners Association and Mike Gatto do not have their facts correct regarding the land adjacent to the Sunset Ranch easement road that begins where Beachwood Drive dead-ends. The land was never part of the original Griffith land donation.
This area was part of the General Moses Sherman Hollywoodland, tract 6450. It encompasses the Hollywoodland residential area beginning at the historic stone gates, north to the Hollywood(land) sign, west to Lake Hollywood and east to Brush/Bronson Canyon. The 444 acre open space land surrounding the Hollywoodland residential community was donated to the City of Los Angeles by the Sherman Company in 1944. The only official opening to this tract of park land is through Canyon Drive in Brush/Bronson Canyon. Brush/Bronson Canyon residential area is represented by the Oaks and key FOGP members.
This frivolous legal action’s intent is to reverse a court order of a long standing property rights ingress/egress easement for the Sunset Ranch. The easement was granted to Sunset Ranch in the early 1940’s before Sherman gifted the open space to the city.
Griffith Park Advisory Board March 2017 Meeting Commentary
I am Sarajane Schwartz, and I represent the 85 homes on Beachwood Drive that almost unanimously support the closing of the park access at the end of our street.
This case (Sunset Ranch vs Los Angeles) was about private property, process, and safety. The judge recognized the ranch’s private property rights in being able to safely operate their almost hundred year old business on their easement road. The court recognized that there had never been a proper process to make this an official entrance to the park.
It is my understanding that two people, Tom Labonge and Kris Sullivan, acted independently of their groups and jerry-rigged in a switchback and parking lot without proper process, hearings, or studies. There were none. If you can find the proper paperworkand records on this, I will gladly retract this statement and apologize.
The result of the lack of these studies left us with this unsafe, chaotic situation on Beachwood Drive where daily we can have thousands of people including many children IN the street because there are no sidewalks on our narrow, winding, substandard street. I don’t know of any other residential area outside of Hollywoodland in the City—including Canyon Drive which is wider and has sidewalks—that is impacted in this way.
Safety is the most important consideration. It is a mystery to me why someone had to sue the City in order to alleviate this dangerous situation. This organization and other City agencies should have been the ones leading the charge to shut this down before someone was killed. Anyone who has had any connection to this bootlegged, dangerous trail head should be breathing a sigh of relief.
In the court, and I was there, the words used in conjunction with the closing of this so-called entrance were “immediately”, “in a day or two”, or “by the end of the week.” That time has passed, and we’re still waiting for the judge’s instructions to be carried out. The judge also requested that the electronic sign at Beachwood and Franklin be used to send people specifically to Canyon Drive.
The real solution for many of these problems lies in Griffith Park developing more access from theeastern and the northern sides away from residential neighborhoods.
Subject: RE: L.A. City Council Approves Funding for Griffith Park Access
and Mobility Study – Councilmember David Ryu
The Committee to Save the Hollywood Specific Plan’s deep concern regarding
tourism magnet sites improperly developed by the City of Los Angeles to
promote tourist viewing of the Hollywood Sign is only reinforced by the
latest CD4 announcement. CD4 states: “The study’s goal is to provide
recommendations on best practices for public access and Hollywood Sign
viewing along the various hiking trails, all while continuing to protect
the urban wilderness elements of the Park.” Another words this “study”
will be a report on how to further promote development and tourist access
to the Hollywood Sign. While we applaud CD’4 concern for the wilderness
elements of the Park, there is no indication that the study will address
mitigations immediately necessary due to the City’s surreptitious
development of Hollywood Sign view sites contiguous to Lake Hollywood
Estates, and Hollywoodland. The use of these sites now has grown to a
point where continuous policing, monitoring, and maintenance is necessary,
where none was required before the City commenced its actions in 2011.
CD4 states: “The Fourth Council District and the Department of Recreation
and Park (RAP) will work with the same consultant and engineering firm
from the recently implemented Griffith Park Circulation Plan. The Plan
began a seven-day-a-week DASH service program to the Observatory, which
started on March 21, 2017, to improve the overall traffic flow, safety,
and public transportation access to the Park.” The Committee to Save the
Hollywoodland Specific Plan formally opposed the incomplete Griffith Park
Circulation Plan because it offered significant mitigations benefiting the
Los Feliz area which we believe may likely further negatively impact the
neighborhoods surrounding the western portion of the Park. We believe the
statements made by Park officials that the already approved Plan will have
no impact to Hollywoodland and Lake Hollywood Estates has no basis in
fact. The jury is still out, and there has not been enough time to assess
the success or failure of the plan being put into place now. The City
should investigate the results of their recent actions before the
consultant is rehired.
Only a Full Environmental Impact Report, not a “Study” will sufficiently
allow input from residents regarding Lake Hollywood’s and Hollywoodland’s
adverse impacts, and degradation of our quality of life to be addressed.
Crosby Doe, Director
The Committee to Save the Hollywoodland Specific Plan
Beachwood Drive gate will soon be off-limits if you’re trekking to Hollywood sign
Funda Durdu poses for her friend Ikram Boulganat, both visiting from Germany, below the Hollywood sign on Canyon Lake Drive. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
March 14, 2017 By Emily Alpert Reyes Contact Reporter, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles will soon stop hikers and tourists from using a Beachwood Drive gate to reach a popular trail near the Hollywood sign, city officials said Tuesday.
Parks department spokeswoman Rose Watson said the city will begin redirecting pedestrians to Canyon Drive and other access points to the Griffith Park trails, including the Hollyridge Trail, in the next few weeks. The decision follows a legal battle that a Griffith Park horseback riding facility waged against the city over hikers trekking near its Beachwood Drive ranch.
This was one of the easiest and shortest routes to good views of the Hollywood sign,” which made it especially popular with tourists who don’t want a lengthy hike during a brief trip to L.A., said Casey Schreiner, author of “Day Hiking Los Angeles.”
The plan has divided Beachwood Canyon residents, who have been at odds over whether the residential street should be a gateway to Griffith Park.
The Beachwood Drive gate will soon be off-limits if you’re trekking to the Hollywood sign. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Although some have argued that the path should be easily accessible to hikers and tourists wanting a closer look at the famous sign, others have pushed to shut down public access to the trails from Beachwood Drive, complaining of traffic and safety risks from a crush of tourists.
The Sunset Ranch Hollywood Stables had its own concerns.
The ranch has long had a legal agreement allowing people to come and go through a 20-foot-wide strip of land. In their lawsuit, the ranch owners complained that the city began funneling hikers onto its “exclusive easement road” two years ago by advertising that pedestrians could safely access the area using a new gate.
In February, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge found that that hikers could not be barred from using the easement. However, she also concluded that the city had channeled thousands of pedestrians toward the ranch every month, blocking access to the property and interfering with its use.
The judge said L.A. could allow hikers to access Hollyridge Trail as close as possible to either the beginning of the Sunset Ranch easement — near the gate at the end of Beachwood Drive — or another access point that was previously used but is currently blocked.
San Fernando Valley residents Kimani Larry, left, and John Flowers stop on Lake Canyon Drive for a selfie with the Hollywood sign in the background. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Watson, the parks department spokeswoman, said the city would begin directing pedestrians away from the Beachwood gate to comply with the court ruling. The change will occur “sometime in the next few weeks as we put in place enforcement to redirect and to effectively serve tourists, hikers and residents,” Watson said in a statement Tuesday.
The decision saddened some hikers, including neighbors who had prized having a short walk to the wilderness through the Beachwood Drive gate. Beachwood Canyon resident Ben Sheffner, who opposes closing the Beachwood Drive access point, argued that the move would merely push problems to other areas.
Kris Sullivan, another resident of the area, said the city should have explored other ways to satisfy the court order instead of redirecting people to Canyon Drive.
“There are other solutions that are definitely possible,” Sullivan said. “But do they have the will?”
Other residents who have agitated to stop tourists from heading up Beachwood Drive to the trails were pleased. Sarajane Schwartz was among a group of residents who sued the city in a separate case, contending that Los Angeles needed to halt access to the trails there while it properly analyzed fire risks and other hazards.
Canyon Drive is a much safer route for tourists, Schwartz said. Unlike on Beachwood Drive, she said, “no one has to walk in the street.… It’s a dangerous situation up here.”
Attorney Michael Angel, who represented Sunset Ranch in the lawsuit, said his client did not take sides in the broader battles over access to Griffith Park. However, he said it had been dangerous for hikers to mingle with hay delivery trucks and horse trailers on the steep and winding road to the ranch.
Turning hikers away from the Beachwood Drive gate was “a very reasonable solution,” Angel said.
City Councilman David Ryu, who represents the area, has faced pressure from the warring groups of Beachwood Canyon residents over how to handle the issue. Ryu said Tuesday that with the Sunset Ranch lawsuit over, “we can focus on the work at hand,” including long-term strategies to improve experiences for tourists and protect neighborhoods around the Hollywood sign.
Schreiner, editor in chief of the website Modern Hiker, said he sympathized with Beachwood Canyon residents concerned about the number of people walking up their street, but he had hoped the city would reach “more of a compromise” between the feuding groups.
“This is such a complicated issue — and it’s been going on for years,” he said.
Some of these images were taken from the brochure Hollywoodland A Delightful Homeplace in the Hills of Hollywood, c.1925 and others were reproduced directly from our supporters at the Sherman Library and Gardens, Corona del Mar, California.
Hollyridge trail is now undermined to the point that old buried utility pipes are showing. It has doubled since yesterday. The City is aware of it since that put eight useless sandbags on the rim which are now in the bottom of the canyon. Recs & Parks should shut down the trail since it is obviously dangerous.
I recently reviewed the RAP Mitigated Circulation Plan dated 1/16/2015. On page 9 it stated Griffith Park is 4355 acres. I would like clarity of the acreage of the park based on the following data:
*Attached Map from 1923 shows Griffith Park as 3751 acres
*I have RAP commission documents showing the Hollywoodland Gifted Park Donation in 12/1944 as a donation of 444 acres (see second attached map). This totals 4195 acres.
Please explain how and when the other 160 acres of land was acquired, purchased or donated to total 4355 acres as currently stated in your 2016 document.
Unauthorized Hollyridge Trail being promoted by the City of Los Angeles
This is a rogue sign. It was not authorized , created or placed adjacent to HGP by rec and parks. Who put it there? Why was it allowed for more than ten years? Why is the so called unauthorized Hollyridge trail being promoted by the city of Los Angeles.
RAP came to Hollywoodland early this morning (1/6/2017) to view the signs. Within 12 hours someone had removed the signs. RAP confirmed they did not post the signs and the signs were not produced or authorized by the department. It seems some “pro Hollyridge Trail” people who are trying to pit us against the city and council office.
Susan & Dan Gottlieb 
Note the stunning Oak tree amongst the painters. Moses Sherman’s tendrils are far reaching in Los Angles County. 
On the drive to the valley not only did we meet in Sherman Oaks , but we passed Haskell Blvd. ( named after Arnold Haskell, Moses right hand man and later manager of his trust and the company) and Hazeltine Ave ( named after one of Moses’ daughters). Can you name other reminders of the Sherman Company that tell his story of land development and transportation?
askell said: “Sherman was a heck of a good teacher too; he taught me everything I know about business but one thing the General wanted: he wanted his
name to be perpetuated. Now I never cared for that. In 1951, when I founded the Foundation, the attorneys wanted me to call it the Arnold Haskell Foundation, because they felt that, being alive, I could accomplish more with it than if it was named after somebody that nobody knew. But I thought, well, this is the opportunity to carry on the General’s name.”
Hollyridge trail is now undermined to the point that old buried utility pipes are showing. It has doubled since yesterday. The City is aware of it since that put eight useless sandbags on the rim which are now in the bottom of the canyon. Recs & Parks should shut down the trail since it is obviously dangerous.
It was not authorized , created or placed adjacent to HGP by rec and parks. Who put it there? Why was it allowed for more than ten years? Why is the so called unauthorized Hollyridge trail being promoted by the city of Los Angeles.