Now anyone can go on Wikipedia and think they have the answers. But honestly, my version is way cooler than that of the Wiki because I can curse, and make it sound a bit more badass.
Built in 1923 by a real estate company owned in part by one smart intuitive guy Harry Chandler (who also owned the SFV) he probably didn't say "There is gold in them there hills," but he probably said something like, "when that lazy Irish fuck Mulholland gets water here, I'm gonna be rich."
(the man in the photo is Harry)Things were going good, business was booming, the movie industry took off and the sign made it's debut in the movies in 1935 for a movie called 'Hollywood Boulevard' Which sounds snazzy if it's your first film.
Things were going great for the Sign. It was however a pain in the ass to take care of. A lonely guy lived behind the sign to constantly changed out the lightbulbs. And since it was made of wooden panels and telephone polls, it would blow over or fall down. Therefore ladders were propped up behind the letters.
Rumor on the outside is that she's a ghost and haunts the place. But I have no actual sources proving that.
Moving along, this was bad for the sign, naturally. Also bad for the sign for the Stock market crash a few years earlier. The housing market collapsed and by 1940 the developers couldn't care less about the sign and abandoned it.
From what I can dig up, Harry Chandler didn't go under. He had so many other projects that kept him going. So the only one that suffered was the sign.
Actually the letter 'H' collapsed in 1949. We were left with Ollywood. Which sounds less glamorous without the H.
Oh most importantly the land went to Los Angeles. Which at this point the Sign had to feel a bit nervous. I would. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerance was like "this could be good for the industry" and they took over the sign which, was like covering a deep bleeding wound with your hand.
But a really cool guy came around a saved the day. That's Hugh Hefner being the man. The man with it all. A castle, woman and the freaking hero to saving the Hollywood sign. Hats off to you.
Hefner hosted one swingin' party at the house to raise money for the sign to be rebuilt. At about $28,000 a pop, which in the seventies, I guess was less costly than buying coke. Alice Cooper is bought an 'O' and Gene Autry bought an "L" while Pat Sajack and Vanna White did nothing..
Honestly Hugh, we didn't know it meant that much to you. But it did. When the young Hugh left Chicago for the beautiful west coast, the sign was a symbol to him, telling him to have a castle full of lovely sexy woman running about.
On August 8th 1978 the sign was torn down and rebuilt to the same height as before, 50ft each letter, but this time, no fucking telephone poles or cheap wood. And it didn't take long either, it was rebuilt by October 30th same year. It helped that Hugh let the crew use his helicopter to bring up supplies.
And now it's back in movies, people hike up to it (though its totally illegal) and people come from all over the world to get a glimpse at the famous sign.
Check my sources:
Under the Hollywood Sign by Art Institute of California-Hollywood
copyright 2009 Hope Anderson Productions,
And whaddya know, no wikipedia.
Oh I'm sure I've got grammar issues and what not. If your a grammar purist, edit it and come back to me. I'm okay with that. I write, not edit :) One of my favorite writers couldn't and wouldn't edit his shit. And he wrote the Great Gatsby. Go Fitzgerald for keeping your editor busy :)
