Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti floated (uh, sorry?) the idea this weekend in an interview with a local TV station. While the officially-unannounced Walt Disney World system, which is now under development, would stay within WDW property to connect Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios with several Disney World hotels, the at-this-point-hypothetical Universal Studios Hollywood gondola would hook up with a destination outside Universal City — the iconic "Hollywood" sign in Los Angeles' Griffith Park.
The idea is to allow visitors who want to visit the famous sign an easier way to get to it that doesn't require driving through and parking on narrow, twisty, and often-crowded residential streets that lead to the various trailheads up Mount Lee. With its spacious new E.T. parking structure, Universal Studios Hollywood is built to handle tens of thousands of visitors daily, making it the most convenient place in the immediate area for people who want to visit the nearby sign to park.
All that's needed is a way for people to get from Universal City's parking garages over Barham Boulevard and up Mount Lee to the sign — a distance a little under two miles. That's where the gondola comes in.
Now, there was nothing in the Evolution site development plan for the redevelopment of the Universal Studios Hollywood property that referenced a gondola station, heading to the Hollywood sign or anywhere else. And the city would need to obtain right of way over many private properties between Universal and the sign. Would the gondola go over Forest Lawn to the north? Or would it track closer to the 101 to the south? It's not much of a stretch to imagine that finding a path for the gondola would cost far more than actually building the thing.
And who would pay for the project? The city? Universal? Private developers hoping to profit from ticket sales? A naming sponsor? Most likely, some combination of all of the above.
Maybe it's just a silly, impossible idea. But I love it. A gondola from Universal to the Hollywood sign quickly would become a "must do" attraction for visitors to Los Angeles, further boosting attendance at Universal and exposing more visitors to the city's wonderful Griffith Park. Remember, theme park fans, that it was on a Griffith Park bench near the park's carousel that one Walt Disney got the idea for building Disneyland. Here's hoping that someday, somehow, we get to take a ride on the Universal GondoLA.
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Those sites don't have anywhere near the parking, or the freeway access, that Universal has. Garcetti's idea is to get traffic of the residential streets around Griffith Park. Universal, with its dedicated freeway ramps now, if the only area facility that meets that need.
I also suspect Universal won't want to sacrifice it's own parking capacity to help the city. This makes no sense/cents for them. It takes customers to the Hollywood sign where the money is made unless Universal is granted the concessions too and street access is barricaded.
BTW, The offramp is right off the 5 freeway.
The most direct route via gondolas is from the LA Zoo and Griffith Park parking lot that's right off the 5 freeway. They should have their main parking lot there. Travel to the Greek Theater with an extra stop at the Observatory, then continue to the Hollywood Sign scenic point. During show days, have a limited run to the Greek Theater. Currently, there is free parking at the Zoo. This will obviously have to change.
The extra selling point from the zoo is conservation. Imagine seeing the zoo from the gondolas. Another major city that has a gondola system is Taipei Taiwan that has a station at the Taipei Zoo.
You can hardly see it where its taking you to. You can't see it at the base.
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