Best Place to See the Hollywood Sign Close-Up – Without Hiking

Getting good views and taking good pictures of the Hollywood Sign is a goal of many tourists.  And we believe the shortest hike to the Hollywood sign is no hike at all!

There are a number of good places around where you can get a good view of the sign, one of which we wrote about in this post called Where to Get the Best View of the Hollywood Sign.   The problem is most of these tend to be from a considerable distance.

A number of bloggers tell how to get right up to the sign, but all of these involve a hike.  A long hike.  The hikes range from 1.5 miles to 6 miles and take from 3 to 5 hours to make.  Many of the ones people have mentioned are no longer accessible or don’t get you as close as you would hope.  If you’re visiting Los Angeles, chances are you don’t want to spend hours hiking when you could be seeing more of the wonderful things in Los Angeles.

But you DO want to get close to the sign.  The Hollywood Sign has a very noticeable “presence” when you are up close looking at 45-foot tall white capital letters spanning 352 feet long.  It’s an experience just to stand near it.

There are two places where you can get closeup views of the Hollywood Sign without hiking at all. The closest view is from Lake Hollywood Park at 3160 Canyon Lake Drive.  Most people stop at the park, and going beyond that point is discouraged.   However, if you drive up the road a bit farther (Canyon Lake Drive becomes Mulholland Highway at this point) you will come to an area where signs say “local traffic only.”  Find a place to park and hike up the road a ways, about a block or so, keeping to your left at the fork and you’ll see the place in the picture below with signs stating no trespassing.  From here you have the view in the picture at the top.  You can walk back a bit and get better views, but please don’t attempt to hike up the side of the mountain  the seemingly short distance to the letters. It’s prohibited and for good reason.

To get to Lake Hollywood Park it is easiest to just plug the address or the name into your GPS system.  It’s an easy drive, though some narrow and winding roads.  Then follow our directions to get a better view past the park.

The second great view of the Hollywood Sign is from the Jerome C. Daniel Overlook also known as the Hollywood Bowl Overlook on Mulholland Dr.  This is actually not far from the previous vantage point.

The Jerome C. Daniel Overlook is at 7036 Mulholland Dr., just west of Cahuenga Blvd.  The view of the sign is no where near as close as from Lake Hollywood Park, but this location offers you amazing views of the Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles that you won’t find at the park.  If you are visiting Los Angeles this one might be a better choice.  It allows you to see much more of Los Angeles.

To see the sign from the Hollywood Bowl Overlook, take the stone steps up to the vantage point at the top.  From this point you can see what is on the other side of the mountain, namely the Hollywood Sign.

Either location will allow you to get incredible photos of the Hollywood Sign to take home with you and post to your Instagram and Facebook pages.

See more photos after the break.

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