Join a Trail Ride for Million-Dollar Views of the Hollywood Sign and More

For a folksy break from the glitzy side of L.A., wind your way up into the Santa Monica Mountains to the red barn at Sunset Ranch .

Friendly wranglers loaded with local lore lead you on easy trail rides into L.A.’s expansive Griffith Park, 4,000 acres of chaparral-and-grassland hillsides with big views out over downtown L.A. Countless movies have been filmed in these hills, and on an hour-long ride your guide will point out places that look oddly familiar, like Griffith Observatory, which has shown up in more than a dozen films, including Rebel Without a Cause.

But the highlight is undoubtedly the up-close look up the slope to the Hollywood sign, as outsized and gleaming as the day it went up in 1923. Back then it said “Hollywoodland” but a makeover (funded largely by Hugh Hefner) in 1978 dropped the last four letters, and recreated an icon.

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