The world-famous HOLLYWOOD sign that has been used by TV and movie directors in more scene-setting shots than a film student could ever count was first erected in 1923 to promote real estate in the fledgling capital of celluloid.

Eighty-five years later, some fear the sign and the hillside on which it sits are threatened by, yes, a real estate deal.

An investment group that owns 138 sage-covered acres above and to the left of the 45-foot-high, steel-and-concrete H put the land up for sale last month for $22 million

Residents led by a city councilman are fighting to preserve the parcel, known as Cahuenga Peak.

“That is our Eiffel Tower,” Councilman Tom LaBonge said. “There is the Hollywood sign. There is the open space. And that’s all there is. This is ours and it should remain ours.”

The parcel has a distinctly Hollywood back story: It was once owned by billionaire Howard Hughes.

Lore has it that Hughes bought it in 1940 — 17 years after the publisher of the Los Angeles Times spelled out his plans for a nearby subdivision in King Kong-size letters — with dreams of building an estate to share with Ginger Rogers.

“It’s true the Hollywood sign was originally a sign to help sell development. But by 1945 the City Council of Los Angeles had made it the official iconic sign of Los Angeles,” Wanamaker said. “It’s just become part of the culture and landmark status of Los Angeles, extremely important.”

Carswell said there is something ironic about the effort to block real estate development around the site.

“Those letters were a real estate developer’s advertisement. That’s the whole way the sign got there,” he said. “So I think it’s the perfect circle.”

Read about the whole affair here.