Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Hollywood, CA - Part 1

Yesterday we went to Hollywood and all I can say is it lived up to what I thought it was going to be.  Hollywood, which is the most famous  district of Los Angeles, CA is the only district with borders and its own records.  It even had it own Mayor, Johnny Grant, until he died in 2008.  A new one has not been named as of yet.  There is so much to see in Hollywood that we were unable to even get half my list done.  That just means we will have to return to do more.  You could easily spend a week in Hollywood and still not do everything.  I will be breaking our Hollywood visit up in a couple of posts due to the amount of pictures taken, over 300.  I will be working on the slideshows today.  So for now, enjoy the picture of the Hollywood sign. 
The Hollywood sign, the famous landmark in the Hollywood Hills, was originally created  as an advertisement in 1923.  It originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND" and it was advertising a new housing development. The letters were each 30ft x 50 ft.  It was contracted to be up for 18 months but with the film industry's growth the sign was kept up.  In the early 1940's the "H" was destroyed in an accident and in 1949 the sign was rebuilt but without the LAND on it.  The unprotected wood through the next couple of decades began to deteriorate and eventually the first "O" splintered and broke off making the letter look like a lower case "u".  Later on the third "O" fell down completely making the famous sign look like
 "HuLLYWO D".  In 1978 a campaign began  to restore the lankmark.  Alice Cooper lead the campaign and donated the money to take care of one of the "O"s.  The rest of the funds needed were from donor contributions.  On November 14, 1978 the new "HOLLYWOOD" sign was unveiled on live television to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Hollywood.  The new letters were made of metal and the new sign now stands 45 ft tall and 350 ft long.  Due to vandalism through out the years the sign is now protected and promoted by a non profit organization, Hollywood Sign Trust.
Today will be an off day for us as I will be working on making up the slideshows for the Hollywood pictures.  Please check back tomorrow for more of our Hollywood journey and pictures.

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