8 little known facts about the Hollywood sign

Hurray for Hollywood! The classic iconic sign which is located high above the Hills in Los Angeles was created in 1921 and erected in 1923. I recently found out a number of little-known facts related to this landmark that might be surprising to others as well. Many movies and television shows were filmed near the Hollywood hills and the location is filled with nostalgia. In this article, I will share 8 significant truths about those famous 9 letters that I believe to be quite significant.

1.Real estate developers began the whole thing

The sign was not initially created with the intent of promoting “movies and starlets”. The actual purpose was to advertise real estate. Two developers, Tracy E Shoults and S. H. Woodruff began working on the development of a new neighborhood and the sign was supposed to become a ginormous billboard that would attract new home buyers to the hillside area.

2. A man from England designed the Hollywood sign.

It was not an American associated with the entertainment industry who designed the famous logo. Thomas Fisk Goff was the artist who created the Hollywood sign, and he was born in London, England in 1890. He immigrated to the United States in the early 1920s and settled in Los Angeles. Goff opened the Crescent Sign Company and also painted landscapes on canvas. Shoults and Woodruff commissioned him to create the sign and install it.

3. Initially a temporary project

The Hollywood sign was only intended to be a temporary advertisement for the new real estate development. It was designed to only be in place for about 18 months, while lots for homes to be built were being sold.

4. A name change

In the beginning, the first sign had 13 letters instead of 9. This was because the developers were going to call the location for new homes, “HOLLYWOODLAND.” This is actually what people saw on the sign until 1949 when the last four letters were dropped.

5. 4,000 light bulbs

The light bulbs on the monicker were timed to blink so that each word“HOLLY,” “WOOD,” and “LAND” lit up consecutively, followed by the entire word. This was considered to be quite modern and progressive at the time instead of tacky. Each bulb only generated 8 watts of electric power so 4,000 were needed in order to create the impressive display. Woodruff and Shoults felt this was necessary in order to sell building lots.

6.The billboard was expensive

The original Hollywoodland was only intended to be a billboard advertisement for the real estate development and was quite expensive for that day and time. The construction cost was around $21,000, which is roughly the equivalent of $250,000 in 2013 dollars. This would be even more today in 2021. Consider a new neighborhood being built and paying one quarter of a million dollars for just one sign to advertise it.

7. The sign initially had its own caretaker.

The real estate developers hired Albert Kothe to become the caretaker of the sign. In addition to other responsibilities, Kothe was in charge of maintaining the Hollywoodland sign. One of his assignments was to replace the lightbulbs on the sign whenever they burnt out. Keep in mind that there were 4,000 bulbs as well as the height of each letter being as high as 50 feet tall. This was no an easy job.

8.The original lettering

The original letters (50 feet tall) were constructed with large sections of sheet metal. They were held in place by using a complicated framing system that included poles, wires, pipes, and a wooden scaffold. All of this was a lot of time and money just for advertising a neighborhood. Today for most people the sign represents Tinsel Town and all that it stands for. Classic movie stars, films, and television shows have a history with the sign that is up in the hillside.