When the Hollywood Sign went up in 1923, it didn’t say “Hollywood.” It said “Hollywoodland,” and it was only supposed to last about a year and a half.
The sign began as a $21,000 billboard for a housing development, built by Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler and his partners, according to the Hollywood Sign Trust. Its letters stood about 50 feet tall, according to KCET, and by the end of the year it was lit by roughly 4,000 light bulbs, per Smithsonian Magazine. The Trust says it was “intended to last just 18 months.”
It stuck around anyway, though not in great shape. The sign quietly became city property in 1944, and in 1949 the letters “LAND” were removed and the “H” was rebuilt, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy.
By 1973, when the sign was named a city landmark, the top of the “D” and the entire third “O” had toppled down Mount Lee, and an arsonist had set fire to the bottom of the second “L,” per the Trust.
Something had to give. The rebuild cost $250,000, and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce found its money by getting celebrities to pay for letters. Hugh Hefner hosted a fundraiser at his home where the letters were auctioned off at about $27,700 each, according to the Hollywood Sign Trust’s account of the campaign.
Nine donors ended up footing the bill. Hefner took the “Y,” singer Andy Williams took the “W,” and Gene Autry and his TV station KTLA took one of the “L”s. Rock singer Alice Cooper bought an “O” in honor of comedian Groucho Marx.
The old sign was scrapped in August 1978, and Los Angeles went about three months without one. The replacement was built with steel and concrete and ran five feet shorter than the original for better stability, according to LAist.
Its debut was set to be a TV moment. The new sign was scheduled to be unveiled on the CBS special “Hollywood’s Diamond Jubilee” on Nov. 14, 1978, and the show’s producer, Pierre Cossette, was nervous about the weather. “We’ve set aside 12 minutes for it,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Can you imagine what would happen if the smog rolled in?”
The sign has been a screen regular ever since, enough for there to be a list of the Hollywood Sign appearances in movies. The billboard meant to last 18 months is still standing more than a century later, permanently becoming an iconic fixture on the Los Angeles landscape.
Hence then, the article about the hollywood sign began as a 1923 real estate ad meant to last 18 months nine donors paid to rebuild it in 1978 was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The Hollywood Sign began as a 1923 real estate ad meant to last 18 months; nine donors paid to rebuild it in 1978 )
Also on site :