Cahuenga Peak Officially Part of Griffith Park

Councilmember Tom LaBonge announced today that Griffith Park expanded by more than 100 acres when the acquisition of Cahuenga Peak was recorded by the City Clerk this week. The Cahuenga Peak property is the pristine hillside beside the famed HOLLYWOOD sign. It had been threatened with luxury housing development until the Councilmember led the successful “Save the Peak” fundraising effort earlier this year.
"This is a great day for all Angelenos, past, present and future,” said Councilmember LaBonge, whose 4th Council District includes Cahuenga Peak. “This land is preserved in perpetuity for the hiking, exploring and enjoyment of the people of Los Angeles.”
The purchase adds much needed public park land in Los Angeles, which has the lowest per capital park acreage among major U.S. cities, with just 4.2 acres of open space per 1000 residents. The purchase also creates a vital wildlife corridor between Griffith Park and coastal conservancy land.
Councilmember LaBonge had set aside $4.3 million in public park funding over the past eight years to purchase the land. When the property owners listed it for $22 million in 2008, the Councilmember partnered with the Trust for Public Land (TPL) to launch a fundraising campaign to purchase it.
TPL struck an agreement with the owners to buy the land at a reduced price ($12.5 million) to expand Griffith Park. The effort, dubbed the Save the Peak campaign, attracted donations from Hollywood stars, inspired an outpouring of support from the local community and drew media attention from around the world.
The two largest donors were local philanthropist Aileen Getty and the Tiffany & Co. Foundation, who each contributed $1.25 million. Just before the fundraising deadline, Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner stepped forward with a $900,000 donation to close the fundraising gap.
Hollywood leaders donated $3.2 million, including major donations from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, CBS Corporation, The Entertainment Industry Foundation, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, the Lucasfilm Foundation, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Steven Spielberg, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Time Warner Inc., and The Walt Disney Company Foundation. Other Hollywood contributors include Creative Artists Agency, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, and Norman Lear.
In addition to headline-grabbing larger donations, community activists also sold baked goods, held a rally and sponsored a concert at a Sunset Strip nightclub to raise money for this grassroots campaign that attracted international support. Many area neighborhood groups also donated, including the Argyle Civic Association, the Beachwood Canyon Neighborhood Association, the Cahuenga Pass Property Owners Association, the Hollywood Dell Civic Association, the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council, the Hollywood Knolls Community Club, the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council, the Hollywoodland Homeowners Association, the Lake Hollywood Homeowners Association Los Feliz Improvement Association, the Mt. Olympus Property Owners Association, the Oaks Homeowners Association, the Spaulding Square Neighborhood Association, the St. Andrews Square Neighborhood Association and the Whitley Heights Civic Association.