YNOT – Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner may not be able to save his troubled publishing empire from the ravages of new technology, but thanks to a chunk of Hef’s change the landmark sign that looms high on a hill above Tinseltown won’t be crushed under the jackboots of commerce.On Monday California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Hefner has made a $900,000 donation to a fund drive designed to cushion the legendary Hollywood sign from a tract of land earmarked for conversion into luxury estates. Hef’s money, joined by a $500,000 matching grant, completed the $12.5 million needed to protect 138 acres from bulldozers run amok.
“[The sign is] a symbol of dreams and opportunity,” the immigrant bodybuilder-turned actor-turned politician said. “The Hollywood sign will welcome dreamers, artists and Austrian bodybuilders for generations to come.”
Hefner called the sign “Hollywood’s Eiffel Tower.”
“My childhood dreams and fantasies came from the movies, and the images created in Hollywood had a major influence on my life and Playboy,” he told a crowd gathered for the announcement.
The Trust for Public Land, the public-private partnership that raised the funds, said donations came all 50 states, 10 foreign countries and several wealthy individuals. Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Getty Oil heir Aileen Getty contributed.
Originally purchased in 1940 by Howard Hughes as the site for a home he planned to share with then-girlfriend Ginger Rogers, the tract of Cahuenga Peak land on which the sign sits was sold to Chicago-based Fox River Financial Resources Inc. for $1.7 million in 2002. Four years later the tract went on the market again for $22 million, but the Trust for Public Land talked Fox River into parting with the sign’s parcel for a lower price.
