This year marks the 100th anniversary of LA’s iconic landmark: the Hollywood Sign. Over the century, the sign has been at the center of scandals, deterioration, and publicity stunts.
Originally built in 1923 by real estate developers, the monument perched high above Tinseltown originally read “Hollywoodland.”
The original 50-foot-tall sign was meant to only be erected for about 18 months. Its goal? To attract new residents who could build homes on the barren hillsides of Mount Lee, says Jeff Zarrinnam, chairman of the Hollywood Sign Trust.
“[Developers] needed some kind of attraction, an advertisement to attract people to come up here to see what's going on. To drive up here in their Model Ts and Model As of the time — people were driving for the very first time in Los Angeles,” Zarrinnam says.
However, lots in the Hollywood Hills didn’t sell as quickly as developers wanted — within its first year and a half, 450 lots were sold. So to push sales, the sign was lit every night through 1933.
But as the decade passed, the temporary sign started showing its age. Its original wooden foundation began to rot, while its electric system began to fail. Nearly 4,000 lightbulbs lit up the sign, and each one went out within a couple hundred hours.
During the 1940s, the sign was donated to the City of Los Angeles, falling into disrepair. Then in 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took charge of its upkeep. The last few letters — land — were also removed from the sign.
Then in 1978, the sign was finally on its last legs. With the help of Hollywood icons, including Hugh Hefner, Gene Autry, Andy Williams, and Alice Cooper, about $270,000 were raised to rebuild the sign.
Today, the superstructure is made out of steel beams and its caissons are buried deep within the bedrock of the mountain.
While the Hollywood Sign started off as a PR stunt to sell real estate, columnist Patt Morrison argues that its gimmicky nature is reflective of LA’s history.
“This is a place that had no natural harbor. We had a river that was there sometimes. And sometimes it wasn't. And yet, we turned it, by force of will, by gimmicks, into this magnificent city, the second biggest in the country, one of the most popular destinations in the world.”
She adds, “This sign has become like the Blarney Stone. People want to get close to it and touch it and think it has a magical quality that will make them part of it.”
