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Hollywood sign facts

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Hollywood sign facts

Hollywood sign facts

  • Originally titled, 'Hollywoodland' the Hollywood sign was built in 1923 by Harry Chandler to advertise the area for a cost of $21,000. It was only supposed to last for a year and a half, but has lasted for more than eighty years.

  • Actress Peg Entwistle, who had grown despondent over her lagging film career, leaped to her death from the letter H in 1932.

  • In 1939, there was a small white dot below the sign. This contained four thousand twenty watt bulbs used to light up the structure and was permanently maintained by a caretaker.

  • A piece of 'Hollywoodland' was actually sold to the city of Los Angeles, which included the part of land that had the Hollywood sign itself on it.

  • In 1949, the L, A, N and D were removed and H was had to be propped back up because it had half fallen over. It is this form of the sign that has remained ever since.

  • Ultimately the sign continued to be battered by the elements and it fell under its own weight, before being renovated in 1978 thanks to Playboy's Hugh Hefner who held a fundraiser auctioning off each letter of the sign. Alice Cooper sponsored one O, cowboy star Gene Aunty sponsored an L and Paul Williams a W.

  • Hippies altered the sign to read 'Hollyweed' in 1976 to promote looser marijuana laws and 'Holywood' in 1987 during a visit by Pope John Paul II.

  • In 2000, lightning destroyed the sign's surveillance booth and Panasonic was called in to set up an advanced security system for the sign, including microwave-triggered motion detectors, external alarms and CCTV.
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