Can anyone tell me exactly when in 1945 the “LAND” portion of the HOLLYWOOD sign was removed?
On a day like today when the wind has cleared the air, it’s a beautilful view. It seems like I can reach out an touch it. It all started in 1923. When a large developer who owned a lot of land in LA. The developement company was named Hollywoodland Realty, and was planning to open a new development. They wanted to get the word out, and apparently there are no sign or zoning ordinances to get in the way of a really, really big sign. So Hollywoodland Realty spent $21,000 and put up a gigantic sign that said HOLLYWOODLAND. The letters were 30 feet wide and 50 feet high. They were lit by 4,000 20 watt light bulbs (so many bulbs that they had to have a guy live in a cabin near the sign and replaced burned out bulbs every day). And the sign was located high in the hills where everyone could see it. That was the birth of the HOLLYWOOD sign. It was intended to last only one and a half years. By the 1940s the sign was abandoned and falling apart. The Chamber of Commerce took over the sign in 19
