Her body was later discovered in a ravine downhill. That September the 24-year-old allegedly climbed a ladder to the “H” on the Hollywoodland sign and jumped off. Soon after she received a part in a murder-mystery film, but the studio reportedly did not renew the option on her contract upon its completion. In spring 1932 stage actress Peg Entwistle moved from New York City to Los Angeles to try her luck with movies. A struggling actress took her life there.Īlthough the Hollywood sign symbolizes glamour and stardom, it can also represent broken dreams. At night the billboard flashed in four stages: “Holly,” then “Wood,” then “Land” and then the entire word, “Hollywoodland.” Newspaper articles from the time show that the sign was completed in 1923 however, the exact date is disputed. In order to promote the project, Chandler and his partners put up $21,000 (over $250,000 in today’s money) for 45-foot-high white block letters that were anchored to telephone poles and illuminated by 4,000 light bulbs. The sign was created as a real-estate advertisement.īy 1923 Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler had decided to invest in an upscale real-estate development called Hollywoodland, which capitalized on the growing recognition of Hollywood as a movie-industry mecca. 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. Alternatively, it may have been a reference to the area’s abundant toyon, a red-berried shrub also known as California holly. One theory is that Daeida met a woman on a train with a summer home called Hollywood. No one knows for sure why they chose that name. Harvey and Daeida Wilcox founded Hollywood in 1887 as a community for likeminded followers of the temperance movement. ![]() The Hollywood sign is only slightly younger than the district itself.
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