East to West: A Jersey girl goes to Hollywood

Author's Note: This series featured in Imprint Magazine is a collection of articles based on my travels in Los Angeles. I am here as a part of the Ithaca College Los Angeles program where I’ll be interning at Misher Films and Don Buchwald and Associates-Fortitude. Through the program and my internships I’m able to experience many of the iconic monuments that define Hollywood. I’m here to share my travel stories, and the history behind them with you. Enjoy!

Standing on the top of the Hollywood sign, overlooking the city of Los Angeles is a breathtaking experience. The other 91 members of the ICLA group, along with myself, took the hike together, up the dirt path to the top of the hill. The history of the Hollywood sign dates back more than eight decades, to a time where the sign had an addition four letters and stood for something much different.

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Believe it or not, the iconic Hollywood sign, located in Los Angeles California, originally did not signify the entertainment business. Rather, the original sign, “Hollywoodland” posed as an outdoor ad campaign for Los Angeles primary economic staple, the real estate industry. Hollywoodland was a suburban housing development where people could go to make the American dream come true.

Although the sign has evolved from “Hollywoodland” to simply read, “Hollywood” the message it signifies remains the same; this is a place where dreams can come true, the American dream is possible. When the sign was first created the American dream was a happy and healthy lifestyle. Now, the dream includes more than a home and job. It’s described by the fantastic and whimsical world that is Los Angeles, Hollywood.

Before Hollywood became the forefront of the entertainment industry, it was a place of farming, agriculture, sunny weather and dry seasons. Slowly, the real estate industry began to develop. In 1887 the wife of the town’s founder Harvy Wilcox met a woman on the train who referred to her summer home as “Hollywood.” Mrs. Wilcox was immediately charmed by the name that she pushed the idea to her husband. The rest is history.

In 1923, Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler invested $21,000 for the construction of the massive Hollywoodland billboard to represent the emerging real estate development of the area. Each of the original 13 letters stood 30 feet wide and roughly 43 feet tall and was made from an elaborate frame of scaffolding, wires, and telephone poles. The sign, once completed was only intended to stand for a year and a half. More than eight decades later it’s still standing tall, representing the wealth, prosperity, and dreams that are Hollywood.

During the 1960’s many of the larger studios and high power producers moved their businesses to the less crowded San Fernando Valley in an effort to expand the industry. By 1970, Paramount was the only studio left in Hollywood. The times suddenly began to change. Newer laws dictating what could and could not be shown in theatres ushered in a new wave of “adult” themed venues. Crime rates skyrocketed and Hollywood was stuck by the same poverty that had swept across the rest of the nation. Weather beaten and decaying, the Hollywoodland sign slowly began to fall.

In 1978 The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce decided to revamp the sign to “Hollywood”, an estimated quarter million dollar project. To raise funds, Hugh Hefner hosted a gala fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion and auctioned off letters of the sign for $27,700 per letter. At the event, Alice Cooper bought an “O,” Gene Autry paid for an “L,” and Andy Williams bought a “W.” After three months of construction, the sign was rebuilt to its former glory.

The rebirth of the Hollywood sign fueled the beginning of rebirth for the industry. By reinvesting in past monuments, Hollywood got back on its feet and regained it’s reputation as the leader of the entertainment industry.