Perhaps no landmark is as identified with Hollywood and even the City of Los Angeles as a whole as the Hollywood Sign. Set atop the southern slope of Mount Lee in the Santa Monica Mountains, it is visible throughout much of Los Angeles County. It is often used in establishing shots in movies and television shows to indicate they are set in Hollywood or Los Angeles in general. It has appeared in movies from Down Three Dark Streets (1954) to Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood (2019). There is some uncertainty as to the exact date when the Hollywood Sign was dedicated, but legend has it that it was on July 13 1923. If that is the case, then the Hollywood Sign turns 100 today. Regardless, it is fairly certain that 2023 is the year of its 100th anniversary.
The Hollywood Sign originated as a promotion for a new housing development. It was in the early 1920s that Eli P. Clark and Moses Sherman, both Southern California railroad tycoons, in partnership with Harry Chandler, publisher of The Los Angeles Times, and real estate developers Tracy E. Shoults and Sidney H. Woodruff, set out to develop a new hillside community called "Hollywoodland." In order to advertise the new housing development, they contracted the Crescent Sign Company to build a sign reading "HOLLYWOODLAND" in 50 foot block letters. The original sign was made of wood and sheet metal. It's not known who exactly came up with the idea of the sign. And, as mentioned above, we aren't even certain of the date when it was dedicated. According to the Hollywood Sign Trust, the sign was completed in December 1923. It is known that the total cost of the Hollywoodland sign was $21,000 (which would be $372,516.80 today). Originally it was lit by some 4000 electric lights, which may well have made it the largest electric sign in the world at the time.
The Hollywood Sign was meant to only stand for 18 months, which makes the fact that some version of it is still standing 100 years later all the more remarkable. It certainly outlasted the group behind the Hollywoodland development. The Great Depression was not a good time for real estate development, and the syndicate behind Hollywoodland was dissolved in 1933. Moses Sherman's company, the M.H. Sherman Company, then took over ownership of the sign. Given how much it cost to light the sign, not to mention maintain it, the M.H. Sherman Company discontinued maintenance on the Hollywood Sign that year.
As it was, it was only a year earlier that the Hollywood Sign had been the site of a tragedy. On September 15 1932, actress Peg Entwistle used a workman's ladder to climb to the top of the "H" on the sign and jump to her death. A hiker discovered her body two days later. A suicide note was found in her purse.There have been claims that Peg Entwistle's suicide immediately made the Hollywood Sign a symbol of the dark side of the film industry, but this does not seem to be the case. It would be many years before the Hollywood Sign would become a symbol of Hollywood, the City of Los Angeles, and the American film industry in general, let alone a symbol of its dark side. Leo Braudy, author of The Hollywood Sign: Fantasy and Reality of an American Icon, pointed out that the idea of Peg Entwistle's suicide as a tragic, but critical moment in the history of the sign did not emerge until the 1970s when the story of her death was revived because of renewed interest in the Hollywood Sign and its history.
Sadly, after the M.H. Sherman Company stopped maintaining the Hollywoodland Sign, it began to deteriorate. High winds took down the sign's second "O" in September 1936. It would lose two more letters over the next two and a half years In 1944 the "H" in the sign was taken down by high winds, although at the time The Los Angeles Times considered vandals could also have been responsible and an urban legend would persist that caretaker Albert Kothe had crashed into the sign while driving his car drunk (given how steep Mount Lee's southern slope is, I think this story can be discounted).
By 1947 the Hollywood Sign was in such a sorry state that the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Commission wanted it torn down. Local people protested the possible demolition of the sign and eventually the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce stepped in to save it. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce entered into a contract with the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Commission to repair the sign. It was then in September 1949 that the sign was restored and the final four letters, spelling "LAND" were removed so that it referred to the area and not a long defunct housing development. From that time forward, it has read "HOLLYWOOD."
It was in 1973 that the Hollywood Sign was declared a cultural landmark by the Los Angeles heritage commission. Unfortunately, being made of wood and sheet metal, it would continue to deteriorate. A severe windstorm on February 10, 1978 damaged the first "O" so that it now looked more like a "U." The third "O" collapsed entirely. A campaign to save the sign then replaced the old sign with a new version consisting of 44 foot high letters made of steel. It was unveiled on November 11 1978. Since then the Hollywood Sign has been refurbished from time to time. In 2005 it was repainted. It was repainted again this very year, just in time for its 100th anniversary.
Over the years the Hollywood Sign would fall victim to pranksters. On New Year's Day of 1976, art student Danny Finegood draped pieces of fabric over the letters of the sign so it read "HOLLYWEED." In 2017 artist Zachary Cole Fernandez repeated Danny Finegood's prank. More recently, pranksters made the sign read "Hollyboob" in 2021. Last year many were angered (myself included) when, following the Los Angeles Ram's victory in the Super Bowl, the City of Los of Angeles itself tried making the sign read "Rams' House." In 1987 Fox Broadcasting paid to have the sign altered to read "Fox" as promotion for their new network. I don't know if that generated any anger on the part of those who love the sign or not, but it would not surprise me if it did.
Of course, the Hollywood Sign has appeared in a number of movies and television shows over the years, so many that it would be exceedingly difficult to list them all. It played a central role in the classic film noir Down Three Dark Streets (1954), with the film's climax taking place at the Hollywood Sign. It was also central to the plot of the 2001 movie The Hollywood Sign. In the disaster movie Earthquake (1978), the sign topples down as the quake takes place. In Superman (1978), another earthquake took out the Hollywood Sign. In 1941 (1979) pilot Wild Bill Kelso fired upon the sign. In The Rocketeer (1991), while operating the film's jet pack, villain Neville Sinclar (Timothy Dalton) knocks down the last four letters of the Hollywoodland Sign so that it now reads "HOLLYWOOD." As mentioned above, it is often used in establishing shots, so that it has appeared in such movies as Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), Predator 2 (1990), and Mulholland Drive (2001). It has appeared on such television shows as Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Beverly Hills 90120.
While the Hollywood Sign is beloved by film buffs all over the world, as well as Los Angelenos, I have a very personal connection to it. It was on July 29 2019 the ashes of actress Vanessa Marquez were scattered atop Mount Lee at the Hollywood Sign, as per her request, by her mother, a few of her friends, and myself. Like most classic film buffs, Vanessa loved classic movies, Hollywood, and the Hollywood Sign.
Essentially constructed as an advertisement and subject to neglect over many years, the Hollywood Sign has become a symbol of not only of the film industry, but of the art of cinema itself. It ceased long ago to belong to the neighbourhood of Hollywood or even the City of Los Angeles. It belongs to anyone who loves film and loves the place where films are made. It would be difficult to find an greater symbol of the American film industry.
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