Discovering Griffith Park. Casey Schreiner
Yes! L.A. does have a subway, and it comes pretty close to Griffith Park! The Metro B Line (formerly known as the Red Line) runs from North Hollywood to downtown Los Angeles, where it connects with the broader regional rail and rapid transit system. From the Hollywood/Western stop, you can reach the Fern Dell area of Griffith Park with an easy 0.6-mile walk north on Western Avenue. You can also connect to the DASH Observatory shuttle at the Vermont/Sunset stop. Fare includes transfers to other metro lines or buses within a two-hour window and is payable by TAP card, which can be purchased at any Metro subway station. For more information, timetables, and directions, visit www.metro.net.
Remember, the only place your pup can be off-leash in the park is in the dog park.
Metro Buses
Metro runs 165 different bus routes with nearly 14,000 bus stops all over L.A. County. The system can be a bit daunting to navigate—especially if you don’t have access to their online trip planner or a smartphone with online mapping—but once you get the hang of it, it’s a great, cheap way to avoid dealing with parking and some traffic. Metro bus line 96 runs from the Burbank Amtrak station to downtown L.A. and through the eastern edge of Griffith Park. This line stops at the Bette Davis picnic area, Zoo Drive/Riverside Drive, the Autry Museum of the American West, the L.A. Zoo, Shane’s Inspiration playground, the Griffith Park ranger station at Crystal Springs, the pony rides and Griffith Park & Southern Railroad, the corner of Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive near the Mulholland Memorial Fountain, Griffith Park pool and tennis courts, and the Friendship Auditorium. The line runs about once every hour.
The Griffith Parkline
In late 2019, Griffith Park launched an ambitious and much-needed pilot shuttle program called the Griffith Parkline. Running only on weekends (for now), the Griffith Parkline connects some of the most popular areas of the park without requiring a transfer—and admission is free. The shuttle runs from noon until 10:00 PM and has twelve stops, from Travel Town all the way to the Griffith Observatory. The Parkline allows visitors to explore the park without having to move their car (or even take a car into the park in the first place), and it also allows weekend hikers many more options for point-to-point hikes.
If the Parkline is successful, there are plans to increase its frequency, run it during the weekdays, and potentially even expand into other parts of the park.
How Do I See the Hollywood Sign?
Spend a little bit of time in Griffith Park—or heck, anywhere in L.A.—and eventually you’ll hear The Question: “So how do I get to the Hollywood Sign?” Since it first appeared in the Santa Monica Mountains as the Hollywoodland Sign in 1923, the sign has acted as a beacon. First, for hopeful homeowners buying plots in the Hollywoodland housing development, then eventually as a symbol of the American entertainment industry, and now—somewhat to the consternation of Angelenos—as a global tourist symbol of Los Angeles itself.
People come from all over the world to Los Angeles, and when they’re here they want to see those big white letters they’ve dreamed about—but it hasn’t always been easy to figure out how to do that.
The Hollywood Sign isn’t on Mount Hollywood, but that peak does have a nice view of it.
Remember that people live in the neighborhood near the sign, so please be respectful when you’re visiting.
Griffith Park itself didn’t have readily available maps and wayfinding signs until about 2016, and the rise of GPS and online navigation was sending sign seekers onto narrow, winding roads that definitely weren’t built to handle modern automobiles—let alone throngs of lost tourists.
Gates were locked, lawsuits were filed, and a former city councilman even lobbied Google and Garmin to change the location of the Hollywood Sign on their maps. It’s still a bit of a messy situation, which is why I strongly recommend traveling on foot as much as possible when you’re looking to snap your sign selfies.
Here are some of the best places to see the Hollywood Sign in and around Griffith Park depending on what kind of view you’re looking for.
IF YOU WANT TO GET SOME SHOPPING DONE, TOO
Hey, who said you can’t enjoy a decent view of the Hollywood Sign while also picking up a pair of jeans? The Hollywood & Highland shopping complex was L.A.’s attempt to replicate New York City’s Times Square—I have some opinions about whether or not it was a successful attempt, but you can draw your own conclusion. It’s a bit of a tourist trap, but it’s pretty easy to get to without a car and there are some genuinely cool Hollywood history sites nearby, including the El Capitan Theatre, the Chinese and Egyptian Theatres, and the Roosevelt Hotel. You’ll walk along the star-studded (literally) Hollywood Walk of Fame and up into the multistory outdoor shopping center, which is styled to resemble the Babylon set from the 1916 film Intolerance. The upper floor is angled to point you directly toward the Hollywood Sign, but you’ll probably want a good zoom lens, as the sign itself is 2.4 miles away.
Location: Northwest corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave.
Distance from Sign: 2.4 miles
How to Get There: Metro B Line Hollywood/Highland stop, DASH Hollywood, Metro bus lines 212, 222, 237, 312, and Rapid 780; paid parking in garages and on street
IF YOU WANT SOME WATER IN THE PICTURE
For what I personally consider one of the most interesting views of the Hollywood Sign, you’ll want to take a nice stroll around the Hollywood Reservoir. Not only is this paved path a great place for joggers and walkers, but there are also several spots where you’ll manage to get good forward-facing views of the sign with a bit of the Hollywood Reservoir in the foreground—which is not a view many people would expect to see. You can hike partway around the reservoir and shoot through a chain-link fence, but in my opinion the best views come when you’re standing atop historic Mulholland Dam.
Location: Mulholland Dam
Distance from Sign: 1.3 miles
How to Get There: Hike 1
IF YOU WANT TO BEAT THE CROWDS AT LAKE HOLLYWOOD PARK
Over the past few years, Lake Hollywood Park has become a magnet for sign seekers. On clear weekend days, you can expect to see almost as many people at the unofficial viewpoint just to the south of Lake Hollywood Park as you would at the Hollywood & Highland mall. Residents are getting frustrated with the foot and car traffic, which is why I strongly recommend hiking in instead. Following the route described in Hike 2, you won’t get snarled in tourist traffic, you’ll make the residents happy, and you’ll get better views, too. First, you’ll have some great through-the-chaparral views from the Mulholland Highway, and then on the Innsdale Trail you’ll get as close to the front of the sign as you can without getting arrested.
Location: Mulholland Highway and the Innsdale Trail
Distance