Hollywood Reservoir

Overview

This easy, flat, just-over three mile trail takes you around the perimeter of the Hollywood Reservoir (sometimes known as Lake Hollywood), an artificial lake in the Hollywood Hills. This path was closed for several years due to landslides and was reopened in April of 2013. A nice stroll with good photo ops, this hike is a nice option for a peaceful stroll or jog with unusual views of the Hollywood Sign and some beautiful 1920s architecture. Back in 2005, Southern California had an unusually wet year – and a deluge of rainstorms caused a fairly large series of mudslides that closed off the entire route around this reservoir. The eastern side was repaired and reopened in 2009, but it took until April of 2013 for the western side to finally re-open to the public (of course, most of the delay was bureaucratic). Now, hikers, joggers, bikers, and casual strollers can complete a 3.3 mile loop around the Hollywood Reservoir, a structure built in 1924 to provide emergency drinking water for the city. I headed up here on a warm weekday afternoon to see what all the fuss was about – and while it’s not necessarily a hard hike (or even on a trail for most of the route), I found it a very pleasant way to spend a bit of time strolling around a part of the city that’s been inaccessible for so long. Park your car on Lake Hollywood Drive on the steep hill just to the north of the reservoir and look for the entrance on the west side of the road. I know it looks kind of like an ominous military checkpoint, but just walk on through and note the posted closure times – they’ll lock these gates near sundown throughout the year. The smooth, level, paved path winds its way on the north side of the Upper Hollywood Reservoir – with occasional views of the northern body of water, too. It’s surprisingly lush – not unlike the area around the Franklin Canyon reservoir. Unfortunately, unlike Franklin Canyon, you are not able to get down to the water – or even close to it. And for most of the trip you’ll have to look at the reservoirs through a

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