110 Years Ago Today Hollywood Became Part of Los Angeles

Except for people living in Southern California and historians, not many people realize that at one time Hollywood was a separate city from Los Angeles, just as Brooklyn was a separate city from New York City and Carondelet was a separate city from St. Louis. It was 110 years ago today that the two cities took the first step to consolidate Hollywood with Los Angeles.

What would become Hollywood was located in what was once the Cahuenga Valley, located between the Santa Monica Mountains and Baldwin Hills. As of 1853 there was a lone adobe hut there. That would change by 1870, by which time the area was a thriving agricultural community. It was the arrival of real estate magnate Harvey Henderson Wilcox that would transform that agricultural community into Hollywood. He bought 160 acres of land at the foothills of the Cahuenga Pass. Legend has it that the name "Hollywood" came from his wife Daeida, although the account of how she came upon the name varies. One account is that she learned of the name from a woman she met on a train, who described her summer home near Chicago. Another is that she learned of the name from their neighbour Ivar Weid, who grew toyon, also known as "California Holly," on his land.

It was on February 1 1887 that Harvey Henderson Wilcox submitted a grid map of his planned new town to the Los Angeles County Recorder. The grid map would be the very first official document to have the name "Hollywood" printed on it. The first street was Prospect Avenue, which would be renamed "Hollywood Boulevard" in 1910 following the consolidation of Hollywood with Los Angeles.

The town of Hollywood would grow in the following years. By 1900 its population was 500. That year it already had two markets, a post office, a newspaper, and a hotel. H.J. Whitley, often called "the Father of Hollywood," built the Hollywood Hotel in 1902. The president of the Los Pacific Boulevard and Development Company, H. J. Whitley opened the hotel for potential buyers of individual lots in Hollywood.

It was on November 14 1903 that Hollywood was finally incorporated as a city. Curiously for a place that would later become known for its restaurants and bars, it was on January 30 1904 that a vote of 113 to 96 resulted in the sale of alcohol being banned in Hollywood except for medicinal purposes. Curiously for a place whose name would become synonymous with cinema, movie theatres were also banned in Hollywood prior to its consolidation with Los Angeles in 1910.

As prosperous as Hollywood was in the 1900s, the city had one big problem. Quite simply, Hollywood had an inadequate water supply. To solve the problem, it was then decided that Hollywood should consolidate with Los Angeles, so as to have access to Los Angeles's water supply. The vote occurred on January 24 1910. In Hollywood 409 people voted for consolidation with Los Angeles and 18 against. In Los Angeles 6224 voted for consolidation, with 373 against. The consolidation became official once the proper paperwork was filed with the California Secretary of State.

1910 would prove to be a big year for Hollywood. Not only would the city be consolidated with Los Angeles, but it would take its first steps towards becoming the movie capital of the world. It was that year that D. W. Griffith made In Old California, a 17 minute short. It was the first film ever made in Hollywood. In 1911 the Nestor Film Company became the first company to establish a permanent movie studio in Hollywood. It was in late 1913 and early 1914 that Cecil B. Demille shot the first feature length film, The Squaw Man, in Hollywood. It was shot in a barn at the southeast corner of Selma and Vine Streets that would later be known as the Lasky-DeMille Barn. It would later become the Hollywood Heritage Museum. Over time several studios would either move to Hollywood or be founded there, until Hollywood became the movie making capital of the world.

It is difficult to say what would have happened had Hollywood not consolidated with Los Angeles in 1910. Certainly the city's inadequate water supply would be an ongoing concern. It also seems possible that the very conservativism of Hollywood at the time (no booze and no movie theatres) might have made it less attractive to the studios, who might well have located elsewhere in Los Angeles County. Regardless, the consolidation of Hollywood with Los Angeles would change both cities forever.