
Warner Bros. wants to build a $100M aerial tramway to the Hollywood sign - JumpCrisscross
http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-hollywood-sign-sky-tram-20180710-story.html
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mapgrep
I try not to rant on this site but I can't help myself here so I'm sorry:

The whole _point_ of the sign is you can see it from far away. If you look at
it from the street in downtown Hollywood or whatever, you are experiencing the
sign as it was meant to be experienced.

For people who... for some reason... want to go RIGHT UP to the sign... or
behind it... sigh — This is an interesting compulsion which I normally would
not judge. But we're now talking one hundred million dollars and untold
materials and effort... to help visit... a SIGN. Literally just a sign that
says, "Hollywood." Up in some otherwise beautiful nature.

To enable this dysfunctional behavior with this kind of money and technology
is nuts. Go to the beach. Go for a hike. Come up with some other utterly
unimaginative scheme to visit an object you saw on a screen.

Sometimes it is better NOT to apply technology to a problem. Let's NOT make
this easier to accomplish. It's pointless, thoughtless behavior with no
worthwhile reward.

To quote an actor named Will Ferrel dressed up as an imaginary fashion star
named Mugatu, "Doesn't anyone else notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy
pills!"

("I invented the piano key necktie! I invented it!!")

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gamblor956
The Apple and Google HQs are literally just offices and laboratories where
people work.

JPL and Kennedy Space Center are just hangars and launchpads where we send
rockets into space.

Yellowstone is just a spot on the earth where a bunch of water comes out.

Different things appeal to different people. For some people, getting to visit
the Hollywood sign up close is a big deal, especially given the importance
that Hollywood films have played in influencing American and international
culture. (Hollywood is _huge_ overseas. The sign is literally what billions of
people first think of when they think of America. New York and the Statute of
Liberty are a close second.)

EDIT: The view of LA _from_ the area below the sign is also pretty great. That
view is likely to be just as much part of the attraction as getting up close
to the sign. There is only one other easily accessible spot where you can get
a view of LA like that (and currently the only spot where you don't need to
hike): the Griffith Observatory.

EDIT: The other great view of the LA basin is Inspiration Point in Alta Dena
(north of Pasadena), which is a 2-12 hour hike round-trip depending on your
fitness level. On a clear day, you can see out to the Channel Islands to the
West, and Orange County to the South, and Malibu to the North.

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mapgrep
There are _amazing_ things going on at those HQs, JPL, Space Center, and
Yellowstone. This is a sign.

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gamblor956
It's a sign representing the Hollywood movie industry, which almost everyone
in the world loves. To them, the sign is just as amazing as the HQs, space
centers, and national parks. I happen to think all of these things are
amazing, which is why I include the sign in this august group.

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mozumder
Hope it stays open at night for the incredible night views.

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grecy
> _cost the studio an estimated $100 million, .... take visitors on a 6-minute
> ride more than 1 mile up_

Which goes to show the absurdity at play here. There are plenty of ski lifts
and gondolas that run around a mile, in MUCH more adverse conditions, with a
MUCH higher elevation gain (which is really all that matters) that cost less
than an order of magnitude less.

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gamblor956
A barebones ski lift/gondola isn't what Warner Brothers is going for here.

A fancy, Hollywood-worthy gondola justifying a $25-$30 ticket is what they're
going for. Large, spacious, gorgeous views, smooth ride...basically, a premium
experience. Not just functional containers but highly stylized/decorated, so
that they're immediately recognizable in future pictures of LA. The goal is to
create an tramway that is an attraction in its own right, much like the SF
streetcars.

Also, there's the matter of minimizing the environmental impact to Griffith
Park and routing the tramway to minimize the impact to existing views of the
sign.

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grecy
Have you ever been on the Whistler Peak to Peak?

or any other modern gondola?

I'll bet my bottom dollar it's a high speed detachable using doppelmayer bits

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kbutler
1- spend their own money 2- put the visitor center by the start of the tram
instead of in the (semi-?) wild area up at the sign

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gamblor956
RTA. They are spending their own money and there are two visitor centers: one
at the start and a sign-specific visitor center already planned for the area
near the sign.

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kbutler
Yes, they are spending their own money - Sorry I didn't make it clear I was
endorsing that action. They also state they will share revenue with the city.

> there are two visitor centers

No, in re-reading the article, I didn't find any reference in the article to a
second visitors center - only one near the sign. I think it would be better to
only have one at the start of the tramway.

    
    
       ...tramway to transport visitors to and from the Hollywood sign, starting from a parking structure next to its Burbank lot.
    
      ...to a new visitors center near the sign
    
       ...The visitors center near the sign would educate visitors

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gamblor956
Oh righto, I'm operating from info beyond just this article.

WB will be building a visitor center in the lot where the tramway will start,
as part of the upgrades to their public facilities where they currently have
studio audiences wait. They're trying to do what Universal Studios did: make
their studios a tourist attraction. As part of those plans, they'll be adding
exhibits and other attractions/stores/restaurants, like a minature Universal
Citywalk.

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ryanmercer
Why...

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azernik
RTFA:

"Residents of the hilly neighborhoods surrounding the famed Hollywood sign —
the symbol of Los Angeles’ signature industry — have long blamed the
attraction for worsening traffic, parking nightmares and disruptive tourists.

Now one of the movie and television business’ biggest players, Warner Bros.,
says it has a bold solution."

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ryanmercer
That's not a valid reason, again I ask why?

Investing 100 million dollars, likely displacing some home owners and
businesses, inconveniencing those residence and business owners for probably
years to actually construct the thing and then actually getting people to use
it after spending what will probably cost more like 150-200 million dollars
after budget overruns from delays just sounds like an epic waste of time and
money. All of this so people can go visit an advertisement that's now missing
31% of its letters for a retail development project...

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koolba
> The 95-year-old studio on Monday told city officials it would foot the bill
> for an aerial tramway to transport visitors to and from the Hollywood sign,
> starting from a parking structure next to its Burbank lot.

If they’re actually going to pay for the entire project it’s nowhere near as
bad as the city building it.

I bet the root of this is a Warner Bros exec that lives at the top of one of
the Hollywood hills and wants to eliminate traffic from his own house.

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ryanmercer
>I bet the root of this is a Warner Bros exec that lives at the top of one of
the Hollywood hills and wants to eliminate traffic from his own house.

That I'd believe.

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trophycase
Make people walk it. It's not like most people couldn't use the exercise
anyway.

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olivermarks
Horrid idea. We have friends who live near the sign, which is just an old real
estate advert that originally said 'hollywoodland' to encourage development.

It's a nice hilly neighborhood and the sign is best seen from down below not
up close. An aerial tramway would be better to some non residential location
nearby where they can see the sign and views of LA IMO

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khazhou
> the sign, which is just an old real estate advert that originally said
> 'hollywoodland' to encourage development.

Oddly dismissive. It's iconic, and no less so because it was originally a real
estate advertisement.

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astrodust
It's ironic that what's essentially a billboard would get turned into an icon.

It's also kind of sad that Hollywood has so little in the way of interesting
landmarks that a billboard is how it's represented.

