The most popular access point to a hiking trail in Griffith Park, known for its iconic Hollywood Sign views, is set to be shut down, and one group of local activists is staging a rally on Saturday to protest. Currently, the Beachwood Gate that hikers pass through to reach the Hollyridge Trail is scheduled to be locked to pedestrians starting next Tuesday.
This closure is one of several that will be rolling out around the park following a dispute with the Sunset Ranch Hollywood Stables, a company offering horseback riding tours, Fox 11 reports.
The equestrians claimed that they have an exclusive right to an easement road and sued the city for encouraging pedestrians to use the area. A court found that they did not actually have the right to ban pedestrians from the stretch, but that the number of hikers being directed to the area was excessive and disruptive to the business. In order to discourage hikers cutting through the easement, the Beachwood Gate will be closed to the public and pedestrians will be redirected, mostly toward Canyon Drive, according to the L.A. Times.
Friends of Griffith Park, the local activist group, is unhappy with the redirection, both because it adds length and difficulty to a route considered by many to be one of the shortest and easiest hikes to the Hollywood Sign, but the group is also worried it’s a sign that Griffith Park is being cut into by private interests.
“The rally is to raise public awareness of the proposed closure and to express the need to keep access to Griffith Park, a public park and Los Angeles' largest historic-cultural monument, open to the public,” the group wrote in a statement about its protest, which kicks off at noon on Tuesday, April 18, at the end of Beachwood Drive.
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