An aspiring, young actress took her life at the sign. Five years after the Swanson makeover, termites have infested the wood and an “O” has tumbled down the mountain. Hitachi Kokusai Either way, Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality in 1903 and merged with Los Angeles in 1910, the year before the first film studio moved there.
The “H” even toppled over, so that it briefly read “Ollywoodland.” After ownership of the sign passed to the city in the mid-1940s, the L.A. Recreation and Parks Commission apparently wanted it razed. Over the next 30 years the Sign would require constant repairs, and sometimes celebrities would help. April 2010: Eccentric business tycoon Howard Hughes bought 138 acres west of the Hollywood sign in 1940 with the intention of building a mansion there for himself and his girlfriend, the actress Ginger Rogers. A new sign replaced the old one in the 1970s. Four thousand 20-watt light bulbs are mounted on the letters and spaced 8″ apart. 1973 Digital History. All Rights Reserved. The Hollywood Sign Trust is chartered as a California 501c non-profit organization. The sign has been destroyed in several movies. But the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce stepped in, and in 1949 it removed the last four letters and restored the rest. Fast Facts About The Hollywood Sign. 1984 Webmaster Arsonists set fire to the bottom of an “L.” The City decides the Sign would have to be completely rebuilt at a cost of $250,000, ten times the cost of the original. Lee and secured to frames constructed of pipes, wires, and telephone poles. 2. Sadly, she was only 24 years old. The new sign was the same size as the old one, but with structural improvements such as steel footings rather than telephone poles.
Regular maintenance on the sign stopped when the Hollywoodland real-estate development went under due to the Great Depression. That’s the year when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce began a contract with the City of Los Angeles Parks Department to repair and rebuild the sign. The Hollywood Sign (formerly the Hollywoodland Sign) is an American landmark and cultural icon overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The Hollywood sign continues to inspire aspiring actors and movie fans from all over the globe while playing a vital role in keeping the town a hotspot for tourism and moviemaking. 6. The developers decide to sell their last 450 acres, which include the Sign, and turn it over to the City of Los Angeles.
Directors seem to especially enjoy destroying it: In Earthquake (1974) the sign’s letters fall down Mount Lee one by one; in Superman (1978) it bends during a quake; in 1941 (1979) a pilot shoots it up; in The Rocketeer (1991) a villain with a faulty rocket pack crashes into it; in Escape from L.A. (1996) it appears to be on the verge of catching fire; in Mighty Joe Young (1998) a gorilla breaks off an “O” and chucks it; in The Day After Tomorrow (2004) a tornado eviscerates it; and in Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) a zombie apocalypse leaves it in tatters.