After five months of closure and controversy, the famed Beachwood Canyon trail to the Hollywood Sign reopened on January 5.

Since use of mobile phone GPS services became widespread, tourists have flocked to the Hollywood Sign trail in ever greater numbers, enraging wealthy hillside residents. Beachwood Canyon locals fought a battle with the city for five years to cut off public access to the site, much to the chagrin of foreign visitors and hikers from other parts of LA.

Providing one of the only views of the backside of the Hollywood Sign, a visit to Beachwood Canyon trail may have inspired Ed Ruscha’s iconic painting, The Back of the Hollywood Sign.

Although undeniably kitschy, the sign itself has become an indispensable landmark over the decades, since it was propped up for a failed housing development called Hollywoodland (“land” was removed in 1949 to reflect the municipality below). Documentary filmmaker Thom Andersen declares that he finds the sign reassuring: “Maybe I find it poignant that a decayed advertisement for a real estate development could become a civic landmark. Or maybe it’s just that we have to love it because it’s such a fat target for outsiders.” But there it stands, free for open air visits.