[Hat Tip to Hope] This landmark is often referred to as the Hollywood cross. The cross, illuminated at night, sits atop a hill overlooking the 101 freeway in Hollywood directly across the freeway from the Hollywood Bowl complex.Quoting Hope's "Lights, Camera, GOD!" blog:
The history of the cross dates back to the 1920's when an heiress, Christine Wetherill Stevenson, who was instrumental in building the Hollywood Bowl, wanted to build a theater specifically for religious pageants.The cross sits adjacent to the Ford Amphitheater and with a little effort you can hike up to where it stands.
... When she died in 1922, Christine Wetherill Stevenson was remembered with a stone cross, which stood atop the hill over-looking the Pilgrimage Theater. [Originally the cross] was lit only during Easter. [in 1965] the cross was damaged by fire and was replaced by a new cross, made of steel and Plexiglas. [By 1984] the cross suffered the detrimental effects of vandalism, followed by a windstorm, which knocked it over. The following year, 1985, volunteers erected a new cross 17-feet in height. In 1993 High Adventure Ministries built the current cross standing 33 feet tall. Finally, in 1997, the Church on the Way took over the care and maintenance of the cross...
