Hollywood Sign to be Turned into Hotel

Whether you have been to Los Angeles or not, you are surely familiar with the city of angels' famous landmark: the Hollywood sign. The sign has been standing for over 87 years since its debut as an advertisement in 1923. Unfortunately, the future of the sign is not so clear and it is in danger. All the surrounding lands are up for grabs and luxurious houses may soon takeover the Hollywood hills. The Hollywood Sign Trust, a non-profit organization, is putting in an effort to try and stop this but some other entrepreneurs have a different idea in mind: turn the sign into a hotel.

The Hollywood Sign is located in the Hollywood Hills area of Mount Lee in Los Angeles, California. The sign spells out the name of the area in 50-foot tall white letters stretching across 200 feet. Although the sign is well known, recognized all over the world, and has attracted its share of tourists over the years, some claim that the sign is not "all that" that it is just plain painted plywood that looks huge and majestic on the silver screen, but in reality is quite small and miserable. That is the reason that the Danish architect Christian Bay-Jorgensen wants to turn this sign into what he thinks that everyone really wants - a hotel.

Moreover, Bay-Jorgensen wants to transform the sign into a boutique hotel that will have the same shape. But he won't stop there: his vision includes wrecking the entire sign and the surrounding area and building it from scratch only this time, double the size. He believes that by doing this he will create a sizzling hot location which will bring in rich tourists and Hollywood celebs, located right at the heart of Tinseltown. Finally he thinks that his idea would make the sign better for everyone, since it will bring in more cash, create more workplaces, create the next best thing for LA's night scene, all while everyone else would be able to see it from a greater distance.

However, it seems many people are not in favor of the new idea. They claim that making the landmark bigger will ruin the view for everyone: it will block the sight from on top of the hills as well as create an ugly real estate monster that is disproportional to its surroundings. Another group of people object to the creation of a hotel because in their minds, creating a hotel over the ruins of the sign is another indication of the city's gloominess and carelessness - turning everything into a dollar sign. In addition, environmental issues are also taken into consideration since creating such an ambitious project requires infrastructure which will destroy the surrounding natural habitat for wildlife.