The Ultimate Guide to the Hollywood Sign Hike in Los Angeles

—This post is in the process of being updated/revamped to be a more comprehensive trail guide—- Please come back soon!

At least once a year my friend Peter from college comes to visit me in California, and so far we have made a tradition of going to a Lakers game since Peter is a big fan, and I am learning to be one. So this was the weekend I met him up in LA on Friday, and we went to watch the Lakers play the Boston Celtics.

The game started out horribly, as in, Lakers were getting killed and everyone looked like a hot mess on the court. But for some reason in the fourth quarter the Lakers decided to show up and play some real ball, and pulled off a win! It got really exciting the last 6 minutes of the game, and I'm convinced Peter and I are good luck charms, because they won last year too when we came to the game.

Let's re-cap the excitement with this horrible home video I made below.

After the game we drove down to Hollywood to meet up with Peter's cousins (who live in LA) for a little bit of nightlife... Except, Peter wore shorts. We weren't really allowed in many places because of this, but we ended up at this cool restaurant called 25 Degrees at the Roosevelt Hotel, where they ordered some shots and drinks and I ordered a boozy milkshake... naturally.

Next day we got ready to go do the Hollywood Sign Hike on the Hollyridge Trail! Lincoln came too because he's Peter's favorite. Actually I think Peter really only comes to visit me to see Lincoln.

Parking was a bitch! Everyone and their mom was doing this hike on Saturday. The hike is super easy, only about 3 miles round trip, but it had some cool views, and I have never seen the Hollywood sign before.

Easy uphill paved pathways...

Peter the hardcore hiker.

And finally you reach the back of the Hollywood sign, which is pretty cool, and you can see downtown LA way in the background there.

Texting and hiking... Come on people.

Anyways, there we are again, me looking 12 years old.

I grew up a little in this picture... 15 maybe.

Lincoln is the worst dog to photograph sometimes. He refuses to look at the camera. Such a freaking diva.

After the hike we attempted to go to Beverly Hills to look at the giant mansions, but I kept getting lost and we eventually gave up, got some fast food (don't hate, it was just a snack), and went back to the hotel to get ready for the evening and rest a little.

That night we went to Koreatown, LA to get some authentic Korean food. We went to a place that had a billion reviews and good ratings on yelp called Kang Hodong Baekjeong.... I know, it sounds legit right? Well the wait was 2 hours, but it was fine, we ended up going next door to this Korean Hookah lounge called Coffee Antique (ya, I don't get it either), and had some hookah and drinks while we waited for them to give us a ring that our table was ready.

2 hours later when we finally got that call, this happened: fire pit in front of us, sides we didn't know the names for, and Kimchi soup which was fantastic and spicy!

And after the soup, the beef combo for 2 happened. They basically cooked it for us. A guy would come around every now and then and flip our meat on the grill until it was ready to be eaten.

Then you are supposed to mix it with all your sides and dip it in sauces... it was delicious.

Oh and there was only 1 beer to choose from: Hite beer, which basically tasted like Bud lite.

Then we noticed that guy from the Wompnamgangnam (I don't know how to spell that) Style song was on our drink bottle that was for the table... not weird at all.

Anyways, it was delicious, and I'm really glad we went there and waited. I've never had Korean BBQ like that. Even though we were stuffed already, I forced Peter to go get desserts with me at a place called Ramekin, where we got these 2 cuties: Chocolate bread pudding and cheesecake.

Sunday morning we had a few hours to kill before Peter had to be at the airport, so we decided to hit up Venice Beach because it was nice out.

Except, my dog is the most annoying dog in the world sometimes. He hates being on leash when he sees other dogs; he freaks out. Probably because he wants to say hi so badly. He is just so social ya know. Also, he hates skate boarders... I can't explain that one. Let's just say that 80% of the people at Venice beach are either 1) walking their dog, or 2) skateboarding... not ideal. To put it mildly, I was really pissed off at Lincoln by the end of the afternoon.

There were some good times though... like getting crappy Venice Beach touristy food.

And grabbing this really weird photo of my devil of a dog. He's mocking me, I can tell.

Lincoln made Venice beach so stressful that I had to go get an In-n-Out Burger chocolate milkshake afterwards just to calm my nerves. #Firstworldproblems

Eating a ton and consuming a lot of calories essentially sums up our weekend in LA, but I would've felt like a failure if I hadn't taken Peter to hip LA restaurants or what not. The hike was fun, probably won't do it again, but it was nice to do once. Nice little weekend in LA visiting one of my best buddies. Awh.

Time to go back to eating salads and protein shakes and other foods I don't actually love eating so that I can pretend that I am getting in better shape for climbing (at least till next weekend, when I will be mowing down in Houston, Texas).

Cheers.