CELEBRATING THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN

I MISSED ITS OFFICIAL ANNIVERSARY, but the Hollywood Sign turned 100 on October 31, 2023. Gee, this calls for some (belated) research. For instance, the sign has its own website, hollywoodsign.org. with its own “Give Now” box. The sign, after all, can’t just keep itself beautiful on its own. In fact, its history is not without ups and downs. 

Hollywood’s Origin. “Imagine a time,” the website says, “when the only stars in Hollywood were found in the crystal-clear night skies arching over rolling hills.”  

The sign has good writers too.

“With more and more Easterners drawn by the promise of sunny skies and mild, dry weather,” the website continues, “the area’s bedrock industry—real estate—soon kicked into high gear.” 

This was in 1887, two decades before moviemakers came west for more reliable outdoor filming. And by then the real estate north of Sunset Boulevard already had a name: Hollywood.

There’s a story at the website that’s maybe even true: “In 1887, Mrs. Wilcox, wife of town founder Harvey Wilcox, met a woman on a train trip who referred to her Florida summer home, ‘Hollywood.’ She was so struck by the name that she suggested it to her husband… and the rest is history.”

Googling around reveals that Harvey Henderson Wilcox was a real estate entrepreneur whose poliomyelitis at age 13 confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. This infirmity didn’t preclude Harvey and second wife Daeida (“Ida”) from buying up what Wikipedia calls “one of their favorite areas for $150 per acre. It was in an agricultural area of fig and apricot orchards. Harvey tried his hand at raising fruit, but failed and decided to subdivide the land, selling lots for $1,000 each.” 

What’s More. The Hollywood Hotel website concurs: “The first official mention of the ‘Hollywood’ name occurred when it was listed on Harvey Wilcox’s land deed in 1887.” 

Then this website offers six origin tales, ranging from a holly-like bush that was really toyon; a misunderstanding about hauling wood; an earlier Hollywood, Ireland;  and a couple of other Ida Wilcox legends, one of a Mass of the Holy Wood of the Cross.

Gee, why didn’t anyone just read the sign?

The HOLLYWOOD Sign. In 1923, Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler erected an electric HOLLYWOODLAND sign hyping his upscale real estate development of that name. 

Originally the sign was intended to stand for 18 months, with sequential illumination of “HOLLY,” “WOOD,” and “LAND,” achieved by some 4000 light bulbs. There was also a searchlight mounted below to give it even more attention. All this didn’t survive the Great Depression; the sign was switched off in 1933. 

Tough Times; Chamber of Commerce Rescue. The sign deteriorated: The letter H was destroyed in early 1944. By 1949 it was considered an eyesore by local residents. 

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce came to the sign’s rescue, setting up a deal with the City of Los Angeles Parks Department to rebuild it. As part of this, in September 1949 the word “LAND” was removed (enough high-end estate hyping).

The Turbulent Seventies. Deterioration resumed. Wikipedia recounts, “After a severe windstorm on February 10, 1978, the first O was splintered and broken, resembling a lowercase u, and the third O had fallen down completely, leaving the now-dilapidated sign reading ‘HuLLYWO D.’ ”

Wordies: What other combination or deformation of letters might reveal interesting results? 

Rescued Again. A 1978 campaign was initiated by singer Alice Cooper, who donated an O in memory of comedian Groucho Marx. Wikipedia lists other significant donors: Publisher Terrence Donnelly (the H); Les Kelley, founder of Kelley Blue Book, (L); Gene Autry (the other L); Hugh Hefner (Y); Andy Williams (W); Italian movie producer Giovanni Mazza (an O); Warner Bros. Records (the other O); and graphics company Gribbit’s Dennis Lidtke (D). 

View from West Hollywood Farmers Market. Image by Jon Sullivan from Wikipedia. 

Viewing HOLLYWOOD. My favorite view of the sign is on Microsoft’s Computer Flight Simulator. 

My GMax Neilson Golden Bear buzzes the sign.

Don’t try this at home, kids. We’re professionals. ds  

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023