Hollywood sign deal …

Up until 2002 Howard Hughes owned a large chunk(138 acres) of land above and to the left of the Hollywood Sign. Until a group of investors came in and bought those acres for 1.7 million dollars from the people that were handling his estate. Well last month this land officially went on the market..for 22 million bucks!

this from yahoo:

“An investment group that owns 138 sage-covered acres above and to the left of the 45-foot-high, steel-and-concrete H put the land up for sale last month for $22 million.

Some Los Angeles residents are afraid mansions will be built there, spoiling the sign’s uncluttered, postcard-perfect backdrop. They worry, too, that the land will no longer be accessible to the hikers, sightseers and romantics who often climb the hill for solitude and a panoramic view of the Los Angeles basin.

Residents led by a city councilman are fighting to preserve the parcel, known as Cahuenga Peak.

The parcel has a distinctly Hollywood back story: It was once owned by billionaire Howard Hughes.

Lore has it that Hughes bought it in 1940 — 17 years after the publisher of the Los Angeles Times spelled out his plans for a nearby subdivision in King Kong-size letters — with dreams of building an estate to share with Ginger Rogers.”

read the rest of the story at yahoo news..