YOSEMITE VALLEY, Calif. — Famous landmarks at Yosemite National Park are getting their names back.
The National Park Service reached a $12 million settlement with the park's former vendor, Delaware North, after being stuck in a legal battle for more than three years.
"We thought 'Hallelujah!' Because it's been a long time coming," Darlene Esola, a San Bruno resident who has been visiting the park for more than 40 years said.
Traditions run deep at Yosemite National Park.
"It's been like this for however many hundred years, you know, and then all of [a] sudden it's Half Dome, it's not Half Dome, it's Curry Village," Nicky Scarbrough, a baker at the park said.
"It is listed in all of the books as the Ahwahnee, and that's where we came on our honeymoon," Esola said.
A little more than three years ago, the National Park Service was forced to change the names of historic landmarks around the park after Delaware North trademarked those names and lost their contract to another company, demanding more than $50 million in compensation, just to use those names.
"I mean, it would be like taking my name away from me all of [a] sudden. What do you mean I'm not who I am? It's just not right," Lorraine Maxon, an Oakley resident said.
"It's like I don't get it, like naming the Mona Lisa, Crackerjack Grandma or something," Scarbrough said.
The old signs never really went away, but most had to be covered up.
"All they did was put another sign up there that said Half Dome Village, they never really took it down," Scarbrough said.
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Curry Village became Half Dome Village and the Ahwahnee Hotel became the Majestic Yosemite Hotel.
"This is definitely a big deal here. This definitely got a lot of people upset, because I mean, since this park has been open, it's been Curry Village and so when a new company just walks in and changes that, obviously that offends a lot of people that love and care about this place," Joshua Nelson, an LA resident said.
The National Park Service says over the next few weeks, park visitors will start to see signs changing all over the park, reverting back to their original names.
"I don't know why that was so difficult or why they wanted to change it in the first place but I'm very happy that they are because now we can go back to Curry Village, not that I ever stopped because I didn't," Nelson said.
Regular visitors are celebrating this as a victory for the park they've grown up in.
"It was the right thing to do. It had to turn back to what it's been since this park was established. I think John Muir would be very pleased today," Esola said.
Under the terms of this new agreement, Aramark, the park's new concession operator, will own the names and logos until the company's contract expires in 2031 when ownership will go back to the government.
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