You meet at Ovation Mall as a late-afternoon sun angles across Highland Avenue, the city loosening its glare into gold. The guide—a downtown native who can rattle off a studio lot and a marquee anecdote in the same breath—leads the small group off Hollywood Boulevard. Feet hit a mix of sidewalk and park path; the noise of tourists and traffic thins as the air cools and the hills take over. By the time the group reaches the low, chaparral-streaked trail into Griffith Park, the skyline has softened into a layered silhouette and the Hollywood Sign sits white and deliberate on its ridge, daring you to frame it well.