The campaign to buy the open land surrounding the Hollywood sign was approximately $1 million short of its $12.5 million target when Playboy founder Hugh Hefner stepped in with a $900,000 donation to help it cross the finish line in late April 2010. The announcement of the successful conclusion to the campaign came just four days before the deadline imposed by the owners of the land, a Chicago-based group of investors. Hefner’s contribution marked the second time he had stepped in to rescue the sign: in 1978 he was a key figure in the campaign to repair the sign, which had fallen into a state of disrepair.

The sign, which originally read ‘Hollywoodland,’ was constructed in 1923 as an advert for a real estate development by a company called Woodruff and Shoults. It was shortened to ‘Hollywood’ after residents protested against plans to dismantle the sign. In the 1930s, the land in question was owned by Howard Hughes, who planned to build a love nest on it for his then girlfriend Ginger Rogers. She wasn’t taken by the idea of living on the remote hillside, and the romance eventually came to an end. The land was bought by Fox River Financial Resources Inc in 2002.

The campaign to prevent the development of five luxury homes around the 138-acre site was kicked off with donations of $1 million each from the Tiffany & Co. Foundation and Aileen Getty, who then offered further $500,000 if the Trust for Public Land could raise the final $1 million. Approximately $3,200,000 was raised by Hollywood celebrities like Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, while around $5,700,000 was provided by state and local funds for park land acquisition. Online donations from as far away as Norway and Japan, and money-raising schemes raised approximately $200,000. The campaign was followed by more than 27,000 people on Facebook.

Announcing the successful completion of the campaign on Monday 26^th April 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said ‘I am proud we were able to come together and create a public-private partnership to protect this historic symbol that will continue to welcome dreamers, artists and Austrian bodybuilders for generations to come.’

Los Angeles councillor Tom LaBonge, one of the driving forces behind the fundraising campaign, said, ‘The Cahuenga Peak is very majestic. This is one mountain you actually could see which is not obscured by houses… If we lost this opportunity, we wouldn't experience what is truly nature in the heart of the city.’