27 | 100 Hollywood - Not a movie town after all?
from the series 100 Photos - 100 Stories
Today, Hollywood is known as the most famous movie town, home to stars and starlets. But that wasn't always the case. What did it look like in the past? Find out in this article.
On July 13, 1923, a brokerage firm erected the sign "Hollywoodland" on city property in the Hollywood Hills for 21,000 dollars to advertise the purchase of land in this then desolate and remote area north of the then much smaller Los Angeles. Countless white metal plates were nailed to a scaffolding made of old telephone poles, pipes, wires and various pieces of wood. The letters were illuminated with a total of around 4000 light bulbs. The lettering mounted on Mount Lee was actually only planned as a temporary solution for a period of one and a half years, but remained in place and quickly became a symbol for the up-and-coming film location of Hollywood, which is now world-famous.
From "Hollywoodland" to "Hollywood"
The global economic crisis at the end of the 1920s already shattered great real estate dreams: Harry Chandler's posh "Hollywoodland" development exploded just a few years later and a few hundred houses were built to the left and right of Beachwood Drive. Then the development company went bankrupt. The Hollywood sign fell into disrepair, the light bulbs had long since been stolen or broken. In 1944 the city took over the weathered sign, which seemed to fare no differently than the movie industry, which was hit hard by the triumph of television. The local chamber of commerce repaired the letters five years later and removed the last four. "Hollywoodland" became "Hollywood". The road to the "Sign" is secured with a thick chain-link fence, including barbed wire, and no one is allowed to clamber around here without authorization: the state takes this seriously! All too often, drunks used to end up here on sloping terrain, often at night. The letters are monitored by cameras around the clock and police officers take a look at the symbol from a helicopter several times a day. The city's landmark is sacred!
