Warner Bros. Considers $100M Aerial Tram To Hollywood Sign

BURBANK (CBSLA) – Studio giant Warner Bros. this week disclosed that it is considering fully financing a $100 million aerial tram from its lot in Burbank to the famed Hollywood Sign in Griffith Park.

The studio met with Los Angeles city officials Monday to inform them of its proposal to fund a one-mile tram, which would go from its parking lot up to Mount Lee, where the sign is located, the Los Angeles Times reports.

A statement released by Warner Bros. to CBS2 Tuesday read, in part:

"The concept of an aerial tram as a solution is one that been suggested in the past and was most recently highlighted as a potential solution in the comprehensive strategies report by Dixon Resources Unlimited."

The tram, which Warner Bros. is calling the Hollywood Skyway, would take about six minutes one-way.

"Because of our property on Forest Lawn Drive, Warner Bros. has one of the shortest and most direct routes to the back of the Hollywood Sign," the company said.

The popularity of the Hollywood Sign has created major headaches for residents in the area as hundreds of thousands of tourists descend on Griffith Park every year.

In January, transportation consulting firm Dixon Resources Unlimited released a comprehensive report on several possible solutions to ease traffic congestion and improve tourist access to the sign. It included creating an aerial tram, constructing a second Hollywood Sign on the other side of the mountain, and developing a shuttle service up Beachwood Canyon.

This third option was in response to the city's controversial closure, in April of 2017, of the Beachwood Drive gate to the Hollyridge Trail, one of the main access points to the Hollywood Sign.

The tram would not require any taxpayer dollars. Warner Bros. would entirely pay for its "design, construction, operation and maintenance." Warner Bros. did not confirm a timeline for the project.

"We are in the early stages of work on this project and we are embarking on a 'listening tour' of city departments, neighborhood residents and environmental groups," Warner Bros. said in its statement. "We want feedback from a diverse cross-section of stakeholders as a part of the design process."

The Hollywood sign was originally built in 1923 to read "Hollywoodland" to advertise a local real estate development.