The "Hollywood" Sign

Do any of you see it daily? Can you drive up to it?

• It looks much better from the top than from the bottom. So did I.

  Peg%20Entwhistle

• Was it really such a wreck in 1979 as seen in Argo?

• You'll be dead before you hit the coyote shit. Most people pick the "D."

  Ruby Romaine

• I used to be obsessed with that sign whenever I would visit L.A. It's beautiful.

• I think it's sad when a city's most iconic image is a sign.

• It originally said: HOLLYWOODLAND When and why was it changed?

  Too tired to google

• I used to live in Hollywood--which, in the late 90's, was not something one would want to admit. But my apartment had a great view of that sign and, while I thought it so fitting that LA's great landmark would essentially be a facde, I loved that sign. I never took it for granted that I saw every day what people traveled from all over the world to look at and be photographed as close to it as they could get. Half-alseep right now ir I'd write more but I really felt there was something special about it, even if it is "just a sign".

• It's undergoing a repainting right now. I think they should repaint it with that high-reflective paint that makes it like a cinema screen. Then they could project clips off it from time to time like they do with the Sydney Opera House.

  http://underthehollywoodsign.wordpress.com/tag/hollywood-sign-restoration/

  Tarquin

• Go up to Griffith Park Observatory around dusk. At the north end of the site you get a sort of close-up view of the sign off to the side. And a big bonus is the breathtaking, panoramic, million-dollar view of the City as the lights come up. Last time I was there you could see all the way to Santa Monica Bay.

  Tarquin

• Well, I certainly hope they improve the food in the cafeteria. Their clams were world famous at one time. And they need to increase handicapped access. The trail up to the sign was in such bad repair the last time I was there, my Mom could barely make it on her scooter.

• [quote]Was it really such a wreck in 1979 as seen in Argo? Yes, in '78 they knocked down the original which was only supposed to be there for 18 months back in the forties. I have a tiny piece of it, they raised donations in Premiere Magazine and the city by cutting up the old one. My Mother got it for me for Christmas that year, it came framed with the Mayor's signature explaining it. It's really cool.

• [quote]HOLLYWOODLAND [quote]When and why was it changed? Hollywoodland has 13 letters. Suicidal, would-be starlets would jump off the 13th letter. At some point, land was deleted.

• The final thirty seconds of this Carol Burnett Show clip with Eydie Gorme from 1977 shows what the Hollywood sign looked like at the time. The D looks a bit shredded on top.

• Oops. Here's the YT clip

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D4FQHYNejFks

  R13

• Driving up beachwood canyon offers a good view as well

• You could drive to a residential street near it, but there is no car accessible road to it. The streets are narrow and residents really dread the constant flow of tourist traffic to get close to it. It's best viewed from a distance and there are a lot of area vantage points all over L.A. to see it, from Griffith Park Observatory, Beachwood Canyon (Drive, Street), and Hollywood & Highland shopping center. You can Google Image the sign and see what it looks like from its reverse toward the L.A. basin.

• It was originally a sign for a real estate development, which is why it started out as Hollywoodland, in 1923, just as film production was at its Golden Age peak. The "land" was dropped in 1949 because the development was long finished, and the local Chamber of Commerce thought it was better to display the name of the city rather than a housing development.

• Apparently it's a good place to dump body parts after you've killed and mutilated someone.

• Thanks for the tip, R18.

• The letters are 45 feet tall, I didn't realize they were so big...