Crews are covering the world-famous Hollywood sign with panels reading Save the Peak.

It's part of a campaign by a nature preservation group to save an adjacent hilltop from development.

Trust For Public Land spokesman Tim Ahern said the letters will be covered until tomorrow.

The group raised about $7 million of the roughly $12 million needed to buy the Cahuenga Peak property from the Chicago area-based owners.

The owners announced plans to develop the 138-acre parcel into luxury homes.

The Hollywood letters were altered in 1992 to promote the film Cool World.

Some residents were angered because they feared the giant Kim Basinger likeness seated on the D would draw crowds to their neighbourhood.