My wife and I play this game, not unlike punch bug on steroids, where we give each other a playful sock in the shoulder when we see famous landmarks, as well as owls.  Long story.  Anyhoo, the point being that one of our main objectives driving around Los Angeles is to be the first to spot the world famous Hollywood Sign.

You’ve seen it before as the sign is probably the most recognized monument in entertainment’s backyard along with palm trees and the Walk of Fame.  A trip to Hollywood and Highland can net you all sorts of Hollywood Sign chotchkies from snow globes and key chains all the way to doggy t-shirts.

 We just can’t get enough of it!  The sign is a symbol of all Hollywood has been and will be and as such has had her fair share of screen time.

Built as an advertisement for the Hollywoodland housing tract in 1923, this 45 foot tall sign is visible across L.A.  Much like the Eiffel Tower, the sign was intended to last about a year, maybe two, but quickly became a symbol for the emerging entertainment industry and was left there.  Unfortunately, it was not built to last and time and an incident with a Ford Model A took a toll on the sign.  In the 1940s the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce agreed to refurbish the now global landmark with the stipulation they lose the “land” and stick with Hollywood.

The sign has undergone major renovation since then, most notably in 1978 when TV legends like Gene Autry and Andy Willaims joined with the likes of Hugh Hefner, Warner Bros. Records, and Alice Cooper to create the new, stronger steel letters that we see today.

The Hollywood Sign is the ultimate scene setter.  No words are needed when cinematographers pan down from the big white letters, you just know exactly where those characters are and that it will probably be sunny.  Seriously, it like never rains here.  Movies have featured the sign since the beginning, and TV has also taken advantage of its presence to set beautiful backdrops.

The Hollywood Sign can be spotted in such shows as:

• Hunter
• The Rockford Files
• CHiPS
• The Fall Guy
• The Hills
• The Bold and the Beautiful
• Married… with Children
• I Love Lucy and
• The Carol Burnett Show

While the sign has been the victim of numerous vandals over the years, former Go-Go Jane Wiedlin actually set the sign on fire!  Well, sort of.  In her music video for the song “World on Fire,” the Hollywood Sign bursts into flames near the end, but don’t blink or you’ll miss it!

The sign has undergone many alterations.  As part of a prank by Caltech students who appropriately changed it to read “CALTECH,” as well as “GO UCLA” and even “HOLLYWeeD” in 1976.  In television history, the most famous change came courtesy of those rascals from West Beverly High!  In the season three finale “Commencement,” the gang of Beverly Hills, 90210 altered the sign to read “W Bev HI 93″ so that all the valley would know that Dylan got his diploma.

But I have to admit, I’m stretching my “On The Set” series a little to include the  Hollywood Sign because it is in need.  On February 11th, The Trust for Public Land was allowed to place a temporary covering over the sign that reads “Save the Peak.”  The Howard Hughes estate, which owned much of Cahuenga Peak, sold a tract of land in 2002 adjacent to the sign that developers would now like to well, develop!  This threatens to severely impact the skyline of Los Angeles and interfere with the iconic Hollywood Sign.

Information about how you can help “Save the Peak” can be found through the Hollywood Sign Trust.  If you can chip in, you’ll be part of helping to save a true piece of Hollywood and American history and hopefully, we’ll see plenty more of the old sign in film and television for decades to come.