Standing at the base of the 14-metre-high glowing white letters that gaze over the sprawling city of Los Angeles, our guide tells us “The Hollywood Sign is America”.
It’s custodian, Jeff Zarrinnam, has been asking visitors for 40 years what the icon represents to them, and one standout answer was “all the way to the top, baby”.
“LA is not just the entertainment industry, it’s about people aspiring to achieve their goals. The sign is an aspirational beacon, motivating them to push themselves to the limit,” Zarrinnam says.
Ordinarily, getting this close to the sign would trigger sirens and the arrival of helicopters. There’s 24/7 surveillance and a whole sheriff’s division of the LAPD dedicated to protecting it.
But, we are let through a locked gate on a private tour by “Mr Hollywood” himself – a man with a title that is only bestowed once in a generation. The…
