Wednesday, July 2, 2014

driving to Hollywoodland, 1929


As the sign looked as it was originally created in 1923, to advertise the name of a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Chinatown. It was only intended to last 18 months, but with the world recognition of Hollywood as the seat of the American movie industry, was left there. The "land" was removed in 1949. By the 1970s the sign's unprotected wood and sheet metal letters were in bad condition and in 1978 Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy Magazine led a public campaign to restore it, which was done with replacement letters made of steel.

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