The Hollywood sign's fascinating history will surprise you

Tinseltown’s biggest star

The world-famous Hollywood Sign perches above Los Angeles like a celestial figure, a constant in a city of perpetual change and a dazzling emblem of Tinsel Town. It catches the eye of every visitor – a must-have selfie for tourists, a beacon of hope for aspiring stars whose dreams are spelled out in those soaring white letters: H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D. As this iconic American landmark celebrates its 100th anniversary we look at its incredible story – the highs, the lows and everything in between.

The Hollywood sign is not technically in Hollywood

The iconic sign is actually situated on Mount Lee, in the Beachwood Canyon area of the Santa Monica Mountains. It does overlook Hollywood, though, and can be viewed from myriad vantage points across LA, from glittering rooftop bars to rugged hiking trails and the famed Griffith Observatory. But if you get your Uber driver to drop you off in the heart of Hollywood, say at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, you’ve got a long walk ahead of you. About four miles (6km), in fact.

The sign started its life as a real estate billboard

The Hollywood sign was originally built as a billboard for an upmarket real estate development called 'Hollywoodland'. Located at the end of Beachwood Canyon, just below what is now Mount Lee, the estate hoped to trade on the glamour of the movie industry that was booming in the city below. Developers decreed only four architectural styles were allowed – English Tudor, French Normandy, Mediterranean and Spanish – hoping to bring a European sophistication to the estate.

The sign proved a challenge to build

It might seem hard to believe now, but the site selected for the sign was remote and inaccessible. A rudimentary road was dug into the hillside to allow a tractor to haul the material needed. But the terrain was so steep that the road stopped 225 feet (68.5m) before where the sign was meant to be built. Workmen carried the more manageable pieces by hand, but a team of mules was needed to drag the 60-foot (18m) poles that would serve as the sign’s support posts.

The sign had its own caretaker

Unlike the current Hollywood sign, the original Hollywoodland sign was illuminated. Each letter was fringed with lightbulbs ­ – a total of 3,700 bulbs all told. Such was the task of maintaining them, that a caretaker was employed to replace any blacked-out 20-watt bulbs. Albert Kothe famously lived in a cabin behind the first 'L' and was immortalised in The Caretaker, a 3D short filmed in 2010 with legendary actor Dick Van Dyke playing the role. In the 1930s the cost of illuminating the sign became prohibitive and the lights were turned off for the final time in 1939.

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The sign was once the face of an anti-union business campaign

In the early 1920s the US Chamber of Commerce produced a map illustrating "business conditions" across the country, with black indicating 'poor' conditions, grey 'fair' and white 'good'. Los Angeles was a luminous dot of white and anti-union businessman Harry Chandler wanted to keep it that way. In early 1924 he formed a group with other prominent local business leaders to create a campaign to “Keep the White Spot White”. It culminated in a massive white spot created underneath the Hollywoodland sign to promote the cause.

A Hollywood starlet jumped to her death from the top of 'H'

Notoriety came to the sign in 1932 when British actress Lillian Millicent 'Peg' Entwistle jumped to her death from atop the 'H' letter. After achieving success and acclaim on Broadway in New York, she had moved to Hollywood in the hope of making it as a movie star. When those dreams were dashed, she took her own life. Entwistle only ever appeared in one film, Thirteen Women. And even that was released posthumously.

The sign becomes the property of the City of Los Angeles

Ownership of the Hollywoodland sign and 425 acres of undeveloped land around it were transferred to the City of Los Angeles in 1944, after decades of neglect. A year later it was added to Griffith Park and placed under control of the Park Commission. At that point the sign had been without an 'H' for nearly six years and had become something of an eyesore. A serious debate began as to whether it should be torn down altogether.

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Hollywoodland becomes Hollywood

In 1947 the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission decided to tear the sign down, sparking the ire of residents in the Hollywoodland tract who realised they would miss the sign once it was gone. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president John Kingsley stepped in on behalf of the Chamber and offered to fund the re-erection of the 'H', on the condition that the last four letters ('LAND') were taken down. In November 1949, the newly repaired and shortened sign was revealed and a new symbol of the city and the dreams it inspired, was born.

The Hollywood sign was very nearly surrounded by luxury homes

If eccentric business tycoon Howard Hughes had had his way, the famously solitary Hollywood sign could well have had company. He bought 138 acres west of the sign in 1940 with the intention of building a mansion there for himself and his girlfriend, the actress Ginger Rogers. Those plans were scuppered when Rogers broke up with him, but were revived when a Chicago-based investment firm bought the land from the Hughes estate in 2002. Thankfully a consortium of movie studios, actors and foundations raised £98.5 million ($12.5m) to buy the plot which is now protected parkland.

The sign is a designated historic landmark

In 1973 the Hollywood sign was given official landmark status by the Cultural Heritage Board of the City of Los Angeles. A series of concerts and other events were held to raise the £11,800 ($15k) needed to restore the sign, with most of it covered by a £7,890 ($10k) donation from Les Kelley, a local automobile dealer. Workers spent several weeks giving the sign a 'facelift', repairing the letters and repainting the sign. 

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Thick fog obscured its big unveiling

In an ominous precursor to the dark days ahead, the gala event to celebrate the sign’s ‘facelift’ in 1973 was shrouded in fog. Floodlights had been installed especially to illuminate the sign for the occasion and silent film star Gloria Swanson was drafted in to flick the switch. But when the time came for Gloria to do the honours a thick fog rolled in and blanketed the hills. Those who turned out to witness the spectacle were greeted instead with a rather damp squib.

A powerful windstorm in 1978 nearly proved fatal

On 10 February 1978 the folly of simply giving the sign a ‘facelift’ five years earlier was exposed when a not wholly unusual windstorm battered the sign and exposed its structural frailties. The third 'O' sustained the greatest damage with broken beams, snapped guide wires and sheet metal blown off, but all the letters sustained damage. The 'Y' gave way after one of its compression braces snapped. A structural engineer inspected the site and found many of the main support poles were rotten and heavily infested with termites.

Playboy Bunnies helped save the sign

The findings of the structural engineer led the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to declare the sign was un-repairable and needed to be completely replaced. On 25 May 1978 it launched a 'Save the Sign' campaign, with a goal of raising £196,866 ($250k) to build a new sign. In June, Hugh Hefner hosted a £100-per-person ($150), star-studded party at the Playboy mansion, raising a whopping £35,435 ($45k) for the fund.

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Alice Cooper sponsored an 'O'

The rest of the funds needed to rebuild the sign came from people sponsoring individual letters for $27,700 a pop. The original 'shock rocker' Alice Cooper got things started by sponsoring the last 'O' in honour of Groucho Marx. Crooner Andy Williams sponsored the 'W' and cowboy/actor Gene Autry the second 'L'. Les Kelley, the automobile dealer who came to the rescue of the sign in 1973, sponsored the first 'L'. The 'Y' was dedicated to Hugh Hefner, in recognition of the money he raised through his party.

There was a time when Hollywood didn’t have a sign

With the necessary funds raised to rebuild the sign a crew from Pacific Outdoor Advertising descended upon the site on 8 August 1978 to demolish the sign. Workers set about pulling down each individual letter and two days later they were all lying flat against the hillside. For the first time in 55 years Angelenos looked up towards Mount Lee and saw a bare hillside.

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Helicopters were used to rebuild it

The rebuild saw the original structural wooden beams replaced with 45-foot-long (14m) steel girders that would serve as the sign’s structural core. There were 20 large vertical support beams all told, each skilfully lowered into place by pilot Greg Ashe flying a Hughes 500D helicopter. Then they lowered 15-foot (5m) horizontal beams to be bolted into place. Fittingly, the helicopters were manufactured by Hughes Helicopters, an off-shoot of the aviation company founded by the famous recluse, Howard Hughes, himself a Hollywood icon.

The rebuilt sign is shorter than the original

With the beams and horizontal supports in place, the ground crew set about attaching the corrugated baked enamel sheet metal panels that form the sign’s letters. When it was finished the sign was the largest in the world: 45-feet (14m) long, covering 11,850 square feet (1,100sqm) and weighing 240 tonnes. It did come up short in one area though. The original letters had been 50 feet (15m) high. Now they were only 45 feet (14m).

The sign is a star of the silver screen

The Hollywood sign has always been a popular prop for movies set in and around Hollywood. In 1978’s Superman, the Caped Crusader saves a troop of girl scouts from the sign falling on them. In The Day After Tomorrow, the Sign gets shredded by a tornado. In Friends With Benefits, Justin Timberland and Mila Kunis hang out on the double 'Os' before getting hassled by a police helicopter. Keep your eye out for it in Demolition Man, The Italian Job remake and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. And Fatal Beauty, where the Sign plays second-fiddle to Whoopi Goldberg’s ludicrously pink Mustang.

Musicians really dig the Hollywood sign too

It’s not just film stars who hope the Hollywood sign’s stardust will rub off on them. From Fleetwood Mac to Blondie, a constant stream of musicians have made the pilgrimage to the foothills below the sign to be photographed too. On New Year’s Eve in 1984 a local band used the cover of fireworks to hang banners over the sign so that it read Raffeys, the band’s name. They were too afraid to make the most of the ensuing notoriety, including a proposed interview with Dave Letterman, because they thought they’d be arrested.

The sign was illuminated to celebrate the new Millennium

At midnight on 31 December 1999, 60 years after the last time it was last lit up, the Hollywood sign was illuminated once again. This time it was to celebrate the dawning of the Y2K Millennium. Spectators were treated to the sight of the sign bathed in a riot of rainbow colours, lit by lights emitting over 2.7 million watts of power.

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The sign has been a canvas for protest and celebration

Although it is highly illegal, a number of pranksters and protestors have ‘altered’ the sign over the 100 years of its life. It has been used to champion its own preservation with a “Save the Sign“ banner in 1973 and transformed into “Save The Peak” in 2010. It has been transformed into “HOLLYWeeD” twice, first in 1976 and more recently in 2017. And it became “HOLYWOOD” in 1987 to mark the visit by Pope John Paul II. In 2022 it was changed, with permission, to celebrate the LA Rams winning the Super Bowl, leading many to fear that the sign will become a billboard for hire.

The original sign was sold on eBay for £354,500

In 2005 the original 1923 Hollywood sign mysteriously appeared on eBay, put up for sale by film producer, Dan Bliss. It had been presumed the sign had been destroyed when it was demolished, but Bliss said he bought it from nightclub entrepreneur Hank Berger, who had in turn bought it from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. "There are six pairs of ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz,” Bliss said at the time. “But there is only one Hollywood sign". The sign sold for £354,500 ($450,400), with the winning bid placed by artist Bill Mack.

The sign has been turned into art

Upon winning the auction, Bill Mack set about using the sheet metal from the original Hollywood sign as a medium to paint the likenesses of stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. They included portraits of Jean Harlow, Ernest Hemingway and Bette Davis, and a miniature 'H' featuring James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. Bill Mack, pictured here with British actress Jane Seymour during the unveiling of the collection at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York in 2007, says the 90-year-old pieces of the sign “gives each painting a heartbeat”.

The Hollywood sign has been to London

In the process of completing his ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ series, Tom Mack became obsessed with restoring the ‘H’ from the old Hollywood sign. The sign had come to him in pieces and he spent several months in close consultation with engineers and construction teams to meticulously recreate it. In 2012 the Los Angeles City Council presented him with a Certificate of Recognition for his efforts and in 2018 the letter was displayed outside London’s O2 Arena, as part of an exhibition of his work inside.

Fire remains the sign’s greatest nemesis

With global warming making summers in southern California hotter and drier, the biggest danger to the iconic Hollywood sign are the brush fires that are becoming disturbingly more regular. In July 2018 a blaze in Griffith Park threatened to engulf both the sign and the equally iconic Griffith Observatory. Firefighters were able to bring the brush fire under control, but many worry what dangers future climate change will bring.

The Hollywood sign has been buzzed by a space shuttle

In 2012 the Space Shuttle Endeavour was retired from service. But before this grand old dame of space travel was put out to pasture, it was given one last farewell flight atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA). The flight saw the space shuttle make the rounds of Los Angeles and Orange County before landing at LAX. Including a fly-by of the world-famous Hollywood sign, of course.

In 2023 it was a rare winter wonderland

On 1 March 2023, Angelenos woke up to the highly unusual sight – the Hollywood sign backed by snow-covered mountains. The winter storms that buffeted southern California dumped 12 feet (3.7m) of snow on California’s Sierra Nevada. This rare weather phenomena was described by Ryan Maue, a meteorologist and former NOAA chief scientist, as a “once-in-a-generation” moment.

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The sign is a victim of its own success

For most of the sign’s existence, visitors were content with posing for photos with the sign behind them at various viewpoints within Griffith Park. But the ready availability of GPS, combined with the selfie craze, has seen visitors swarm previously quiet neighbourhoods, trespassing on private property and generally behaving badly. Park Rangers have started patrolling the area and residents have begun taking matters into their own hands. Better to drop by The Hollywood Sign Trust website for up-to-date advice on hiking trails, the best viewpoints around the city and even how to visit the sign by public transport.

The Hollywood sign has its own shade of white

As the iconic sign got ready for its 100 birthday with a fresh coat of paint, it was revealed that the sign has its very own shade of white known as “Hollywood Sign Centennial White". The paint is produced by Sherwin-Williams, who created the shade in collaboration with The Hollywood Sign Trust. The paint is part of its “Emerald Rain Refresh" range, ultra-durable exterior paint with Self-Cleaning Technology™ and excellent UV and weather protection. Close to 400 gallons (1,818l) were used over the four weeks it took to repaint the sign.

There are big centennial celebrations planned

This year marks the Hollywood sign’s centennial year and the Hollywood Sign Trust has big plans to celebrate. There is continuing debate about the sign’s actual birth date – most agree on 8 December, when the sign was first illuminated – but the Trust has organised a whole year of centennial celebrations including a quarter scale sign moved around the city for those selfie moments; a film festival at the Egyptian Theatre showing films starring the sign; and a birthday street party on Hollywood Boulevard in December. There will also be a number of star-studded galas to raise funds for an exciting new visitor centre.

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