Hollywood Sign

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The Hollywood Sign
Hollywood Sign (Los Angeles Metropolitan Area)
Red pog.svg
Location in Los Angeles

The Hollywood Sign is the well-known lettering in the Hollywood Hills above today's Hollywood , a district of Los Angeles . The letters of the lettering are about 14 meters high and together 137 meters long. The entire structure weighs around 220 tons.

history

On July 13, 1923, a $ 21,000 brokerage firm placed the HOLLYWOODLAND sign on urban land in the Hollywood Hills to advertise the purchase of land in what was then the desolate and remote area north of the then much smaller Los Angeles. Countless white metal plates measuring around 0.9 × 2.7 m were nailed to a scaffolding made of old telephone poles , pipes, wires and various pieces of wood. The letters were lit with a total of about 4000 light bulbs . The lettering mounted on Mount Lee was actually only planned as a temporary measure for a period of one and a half years, but was retained and quickly became a symbol for the up-and-coming film location Hollywood.

View of Los Angeles from the Hollywood Sign

In the 1940s, the H tipped over, and the other letters began to rot too. In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce decided to remove the syllable LAND and restore the rest of the font, including removing the lighting.

In 1978 the lettering had largely expired. A quarter of a million dollars was estimated for a completely new building. Hugh Hefner held a fundraising party at his Playboy Mansion , and symbolic rights to each letter were auctioned to cover renovation costs. From August to October 1978 there was no lettering until the new sign was completed. It has a permanent concrete foundation, steel beams, and the white front panels are enameled .

In 1995, 2005 and 2012 the surfaces of the letters were renewed. At the turn of the year 1999/2000 the lettering became part of a large light installation. In 2010, Hugh Hefner, with the support of other celebrities, bought around 56 hectares on Mount Lee, which are to the side and partially behind the lettering in order to prevent any development that would have changed the overall impression.

In the past, the area around the letters was not cordoned off, but this repeatedly resulted in vandalism, unwanted changes to the lettering and accidents by careless climbers. In addition, there were complaints from residents of adjacent properties because visitors repeatedly crossed their properties without permission. The area was therefore fenced off. Since 2000, surveillance electronics such as infrared cameras, microphones and motion detectors have also been installed.

The land under the letters still belongs to the city of Los Angeles, the rights to the lettering are owned by the Chamber of Commerce, and the costs for maintenance and public relations are borne by a non-profit organization called Hollywood Sign Trust, made up of business representatives and celebrities.

Sponsors

The cost of the new letters in 1978 was borne by celebrities:

Trivia

  • On September 16, 1932, the actress Peg Entwistle jumped from desperation from the letter "H" of the lettering and fell 40 meters down the slope. Her body was found two days later in a cactus bush and only identified two days later. She had been successful at New York's Broadway theaters since the mid-1920s, but was unable to gain a foothold in the film business after moving to Los Angeles in May 1932. According to an unprovable Hollywood legend, tragically, only one day after her death, she should have been accepted for a leading role and played a woman who is being driven to suicide.
  • In 1984 the Olympic Games took place in Los Angeles ; on this occasion the letters were illuminated again for two weeks.
  • In September 1987 the lettering became HOLLYWOOD for a few days in honor of the visit of John Paul II. HOLYWOOD (from holy = holy). On this occasion, the font was also illuminated for a week.
  • On New Year's Eve from 2016 to 2017, the lettering was changed from "HOLLYWOOD" to HOLLYWeeD ("Weed" is colloquially for marijuana ) as part of a prank using light and dark cloths . An identical change had already been made in 1976. The change in 2017 probably took place at night around 2:00 a.m. and remained visible until the authorities restored the original state around 2:00 p.m.
  • The clearest view of the Hollywood Sign is from Canyon Lake Drive near the Hollywood Reservoir. The address for the navigation system is "3115 Canyon Lake Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90068" - Google Maps and other current route planners should find the point automatically.

Web links

Commons : Hollywood Sign  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roman Urbaner: Death and the Maiden. In: Telepolis . February 6, 2008, accessed August 1, 2012 .
  2. ^ The History of the Sign: 1923: A Sign Is Born. In: The Hollywood Sign. Hollywood sign Trust, accessed August 1, 2012 .
  3. ^ Rainer Schmidt: Hollywood: The most famous lettering in the world. In: Merian . December 2009, accessed August 1, 2012 .
  4. ^ The History of the Sign - 1978 A Sign is Reborn . Hollywood Sign Trust as of June 2012
  5. ^ A b The History of the Sign: The Hollywood Sign Today. In: The Hollywood Sign. Hollywood sign Trust, accessed August 1, 2012 .
  6. ^ Exploring Hollywood Sign Security. (No longer available online.) In: The Hollywood Sign. Hollywood sign Trust, archived from the original on July 23, 2012 ; accessed on August 1, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hollywoodsign.org
  7. ^ Allan Ellenberger: History of the Hollywood Sign . On: hollywoodland, December 8, 2018
  8. ^ Death in Hollywood: the Peg Entwistle story . BBC Wales Blog, 1st October 2011
  9. ^ Sign of the Times ... Tragic Suicide Off the H: 1932. hollywoodsign.org
  10. ↑ Carma Hassan: Hollywood sign vandalized to read 'Hollyweed'. CNN , January 1, 2017, accessed January 1, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Streetview of the Hollywood Sign on Google Maps. In: Google Maps. November 1, 2017, accessed on June 24, 2019 (German).
  12. ↑ Hollywood Sign: Best view of the Los Angeles landmark. In: USA travel tips. July 12, 2017, accessed on December 21, 2018 (German).

Coordinates: 34 ° 8 ′ 3 ″  N , 118 ° 19 ′ 17 ″  W.