El que seguramente sea el letrero más fotografiado del mundo lleva más de cien años sobre las colinas de Hollywood. Pero lo que muchos de los turistas que acuden atraídos por el glamur que inspira no saben es que su origen no tiene que ver con el cine.

Nothing says Hollywood better than the Hollywood sign. This iconic landmark is a symbol of fame and glamour. But believe it or not, the concept behind the Hollywood sign wasn’t to represent the Los Angeles film industry.

REAL ESTATE

The original sign was erected in 1923 to promote a new housing development in the Hollywood Hills. It said ‘Hollywoodland’ – the name of the housing development – in gigantic letters. The letters were fifty feet high and thirty feet wide, and had more than four thousand light bulbs that illuminated the sign at night.

THE END OF H

The developers wanted to remove the sign after eighteen months, but people loved it so much that they left it there. The letters soon began to deteriorate, and in the early 1940s, the sign’s custodian, Albert Kothe, got drunk one night and drove his car into the letter H, destroying it.

saved by the people

This could have been the beginning of the end of the sign. The city then bought the land it was on and planned to remove it. But because of public pressure to save it, they only removed the ‘land’ section, so it now read simply ‘Hollywood’, and restored the remaining letters.

PLAYBOY CAMPAIGN

And then history repeated itself! The sign again deteriorated, and by the 1970s, the first O was damaged, so it looked like a U, and the last  O had fallen over – so the sign now said ‘Hullywo d’! This time, it was celebrities who saved the day, in particular the founder of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner, who organized a campaign to save it. 

ONE LETTER EACH

Nine celebrities, including Hefner, rock star Alice Cooper and Italian movie producer Gianni Mazza, donated nearly $28,000 to replace one letter each. And in 1978, the city revealed the sign that we see today, which has white metal letters on a concrete foundation.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

Today, the sign is protected by an advanced security system, but it’s often been vandalised over the years. You can see the Hollywood Sign from various places in Los Angeles, and if you’re feeling energetic, you can hike almost two miles and stand near it, for the perfect Hollywood selfie!

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EXPLAINS

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