Wender·Vista
Hollywood Sign
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileCalifornia · United States
on Mount Lee, looking south over Los Angeles

Hollywood Sign

— a hand-painted billboard the city forgot to take down.

Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
Above the bench, in a warm oak surround.
Above the bench, in a warm oak surround.
Beside the kettle, propped on the counter.
Beside the kettle, propped on the counter.
Above the linens, in a slim black surround.
Above the linens, in a slim black surround.
On the nightstand, on a light oak stand.
On the nightstand, on a light oak stand.
On a picture ledge, where the light comes in.
On a picture ledge, where the light comes in.
a note from the studio

The hillside writing visible from a hundred miles of freeway and almost no one's living room. Nine white letters on the south face of Mount Lee, four storeys tall, set into the chaparral above Beachwood Canyon. From the Griffith Observatory parking lot you can see the whole word at once. From below, in the residential streets of the Hollywood Hills, it's a different sign every block. Sometimes the H is gone behind a roofline. Sometimes only the OOD is left. No road goes to it. The letters are closer to the sky than to the city.

from the studio
shown in a slim black floating frame · 6 × 6 in
shown in a slim black floating frame · 6 × 6 in
— bring it home

Hollywood Sign, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

comes gift-ready
comes gift-ready

Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.

or build a grouping
or build a grouping

Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.

about Hollywood Sign

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
the place

The Hollywood Sign sits on the south slope of Mount Lee, the highest peak in the Hollywood Hills at 1,708 feet (520 m), inside the boundary of Griffith Park in central Los Angeles. The nine letters are 45 feet (13.7 m) tall and span 350 feet (110 m) end to end, made of corrugated steel painted white and anchored to the hillside on a steep, brushy grade. No road approaches the sign itself; the closest legal viewpoints are the Griffith Observatory, Lake Hollywood Park, and the Hollyridge Trail above Beachwood Canyon. The City of Los Angeles owns the structure, and the nonprofit Hollywood Sign Trust maintains it.

the year

The sign was erected in 1923 by the Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler as a temporary billboard reading HOLLYWOODLAND, advertising a real-estate development in the hills above the new film district. It was meant to stand for eighteen months. By 1949, the original wooden letters were rotting; the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce repaired the structure and dropped the final four letters. The current sign was rebuilt in 1978 in corrugated steel after Hugh Hefner hosted a fundraiser, with nine donors sponsoring one letter each at $27,777 apiece. Among them: Hefner, Andy Williams, Alice Cooper, and Gene Autry. Los Angeles named the sign Historic-Cultural Monument No. 111 in 1973.

the visit

Three things determine how the sign looks to you: the angle, the air, and how close the road lets you get. The Griffith Observatory delivers the cleanest postcard view from 1.5 miles east, with the letters small but legible against the brown hillside. Lake Hollywood Park, in the canyon directly below, frames the sign through palms and oaks. The Hollyridge Trail, off Beachwood Drive, brings hikers within about half a mile of the back of the sign at the Mount Lee summit. Tour buses to the residential viewpoints require permits. No vehicle can drive to the sign itself; a chain-link fence and motion sensors guard the perimeter.

where
United States · Los Angeles, California
within
Griffith Park
elevation
520 m · 1,708 ft
position
34.1341° N · 118.3215° W
the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
2 km E
Griffith Observatory
observatory
1 km SW
Lake Hollywood Reservoir
reservoir
1 km N
Mulholland Drive
ridge road
4 km S
Hollywood Walk of Fame
boulevard
3 km SW
Runyon Canyon Park
city park
N
Hollywood Sign
Griffith Observatory
Lake Hollywood Reservoir
Mulholland Drive
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Runyon Canyon Park
common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Hollywood Sign — and about bringing the piece home.
about the place

The Hollywood Sign sits on the south slope of Mount Lee, the highest point in the Hollywood Hills at 1,708 feet, inside Griffith Park in central Los Angeles. It faces south over Beachwood Canyon and the Los Angeles basin.

Each of the nine letters stands 45 feet tall, roughly the height of a four-storey building. End to end the sign spans about 350 feet. The current letters are corrugated steel; the originals, from 1923, were sheet metal on wooden frames.

The sign was erected in 1923 to advertise Hollywoodland, a hillside real-estate development backed by Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler. It was meant to last eighteen months. The final four letters were removed in 1949 when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took over its upkeep.

You can hike to a viewpoint behind the sign at the Mount Lee summit via the Hollyridge Trail off Beachwood Drive, roughly three miles round-trip with about 800 feet of climb. The sign itself is fenced and motion-monitored; the public cannot stand beside the letters.

The Griffith Observatory, 1.5 miles east on the same ridge, gives the cleanest postcard angle. Lake Hollywood Park, directly below the sign in the canyon, frames it through palm trees. Hollywood and Highland gives a glimpse from the boulevard itself.

The Hollywood Sign Trust, a nonprofit founded in 1978, maintains the structure on behalf of the City of Los Angeles, which owns it. Maintenance includes paint, lighting, surveillance, and structural repair on a steep, brushy hillside.

The current corrugated-steel sign was completed in 1978 after a benefit organised by Hugh Hefner. Nine donors sponsored one letter each at $27,777 apiece, including Hefner, Alice Cooper, Andy Williams, and Gene Autry. The previous sign, repaired in 1949, had decayed past saving.

about the piece in your home

For many of our Angeleno customers, the Hollywood Sign is the city's most recognisable line in the world. A Coaster or Small with a handwritten note from the studio carries well. A Medium reads as the landmark from across the room.

The studio's stained-glass and alcohol-ink palette leans warm and graphic, with deep blues and ochres in the sky and steel. It sits well in Mid-Century Modern interiors, in Maximalist gallery walls, and in California-modern rooms with travertine, oak, and a brass note.

Yes. California-modern is leaning into named-place artwork over generic abstracts, with a preference for ceramic over canvas because the surface holds desert and coastal light differently. A 4-tile Mural of the sign reads as both landmark and texture on a long plaster wall.

Above a console table, a Large reads cleanly at viewing distance. Above a standard sofa, a 4-tile Mural fills the width without crowding. Over a long sectional or a fireplace mantel in a great room, the 9-tile Mural is the right scale.

Yes. For bathrooms, kitchens, showers, or any vertical install with steam or splash, order the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant. The colour lives inside the ceramic surface itself, not in a topcoat that can wear off.

A soft microfibre cloth and warm water. For a kitchen tile that's caught a splatter, a drop of dish soap on the cloth lifts it without dulling the surface. Skip abrasive sponges and citrus-based cleaners on the glossy finish.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in the studio's stained-glass and alcohol-ink visual language and finished on ceramic in-house. The Hollywood Sign rendering is exclusive to Wender Studios. There is no licensed or stock imagery anywhere in the catalogue.

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