Hollywood sign saved with Hefner's $900K

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has granted a "Hollywood ending" to the campaign to save the iconic Hollywood sign, by coming up with the final $900,000 US needed to buy the site it sits on from developers.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on hand Monday in Los Angeles to announce that the Trust for Public Land, a national conservation group, had reached its fundraising goal of $12.5 million.

It's "the Hollywood ending we hoped for," Schwarzenegger said, commenting that the sign had inspired him when he was growing up in his native Austria.

"It's a symbol of dreams and opportunity," he said. "The Hollywood sign will welcome dreamers, artists and Austrian bodybuilders for generations to come."

Hefner, 84, also cited inspiration from the famed sign, with its 14-metre-tall letters high on a rugged hillside.

"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 said in a statement.

"As I've said before, the Hollywood sign is Hollywood's Eiffel Tower and I am pleased to help preserve such an important cultural landmark."

Hefner had also contributed to past fundraising efforts to help restore and renovate the sign.

Howard Hughes property

While the Hollywood sign itself is owned by the City of Los Angeles, it sits on a parcel of steep land that a group of Chicago-based investors purchased from the estate of tycoon Howard Hughes in 2002.

The investors had initially intended to sell the site— known as Cahuenga Peak — to luxury home developers.

However, they were persuaded by the Trust for Public Land to sell it to the conservation group for $12.5 million, provided the trust could raise the money by mid-April. At the deadline, the campaign remained $1.5 million short and was granted an extension of 16 days.

The total funds raised were a mix of public money ($2.7 million in local funds and $3.1 million from the state) and contributions totalling $6.7 million from private donors including director Steven Spielberg, actor Tom Hanks, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Tiffany and Co. Foundation and Aileen Getty, granddaughter of oil baron J. Paul Getty.

Schwarzenegger said the campaign had received donations from all 50 American states and 10 other countries.

Once the sale goes through, the trust will donate the land to the city so the parcel can be incorporated to adjacent Griffith Park