Hugh Hefner helps group reach $12.5M goal to preserve land behind Hollywood sign

Group raises $12.5M goal for Hollywood sign land

LOS ANGELES — Developers won’t be building anything behind the landmark Hollywood sign.

The Trust for Public Land says Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s $900,000 donation completes the conservation group’s $12.5 million fundraising drive to protect the 138 acres behind the Hollywood sign.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that Hefner was the final donor, calling it “the Hollywood ending we hoped for.”

Hefner’s gift caps a yearlong effort by conservationists to keep developers out of the area behind the sign. Aileen Getty, a billionaire daughter of oil baron J. Paul Getty, and The Tiffany and Co. Foundation earlier contributed $1 million.

In a statement, Hefner says the sign is “Hollywood’s Eiffel Tower.”