The L.A. Times is reporting on the effort to save Cahuenga Peak from developers who want to shoehorn 5 luxury homes onto a small lot adjacent to the Hollywood sign.

City officials, led by CD4 Councilmember Tom LaBonge, are scrambling to find the funds necessary to purchase the lot from the Chicago-based real estate trust which currently holds the property.

If all goes well, the peak would be annexed to Griffith Park. Unfortunately, there's a snag - the Chicago gang is asking for $1.8 million dollars over the most recent appraisal of the property's value.

Update: Today's CD4 newsletter addresses the Cahuenga Peak situation, and includes details from Councilmember Tom LaBonge on how private citizens can donate to the Trust for Public Land's Cahuenga Peak fund. You can read it here, in the Skunks Document Dump.

In keeping with my promise not to clutter the site with video posts, I'm merely going to link to this aerial footage of the Hollywoodland sign. See it as it was in 1930, high atop a Mount Lee that had not yet been crowned with the bewildering array of antennae and cell towers that are now the highest points in Los Angeles. Notice also the unspoiled San Fernando Valley in the background.
  ¶ 3:28 PM