The Hollywood Sign

landmarks · Los Angeles · pop culture

Born as an ad. The Hollywood Sign was originally called the Hollywoodland Sign and was built in 1923 just to advertise a nearby real estate development. It was only supposed to last about 18 months, but people loved it so much that it stayed up forever.

Massive letters. Each letter in the original sign was 50 feet tall, which is taller than a five-story building. The whole sign stretched 450 feet long, almost as long as four and a half football fields.

Lost its tail. In 1949, someone removed the last four letters spelling LAND, so it changed from HOLLYWOODLAND to just HOLLYWOOD. This happened because the city decided the shorter name worked better for the iconic landmark.

Rebuilt to last. The original sign got pretty worn out, so in 1978 it was completely replaced with new 45-foot-tall letters made of steel and concrete. This newer version is much stronger and was designed to stay up for many decades.

Mountain home. The sign sits on Mount Lee in the Santa Monica Mountains, high above the neighborhood of Beachwood Canyon in Los Angeles. From down in the city, you can see it from miles away on a clear day.