Originally erected on this day in 1923 as a temporary advertisement for a real estate development of the Santa Monica Mountain’s Beachwood Canyon in the hills above the Los Angeles’ district, the nine by fifteen metre wooden block letters were first adorned with four thousand flashing light bulbs and hauled on site by a team of pack mules, the sign was only intended to remain up for eighteen months, but coinciding the rise of the US film industry, the city kept the landmark in its uncut form for over a quarter of a century. Neglected and dilapidated by the early 1970s, a public campaign championed by Hugh Hefner convinced the Chamber of Commerce to replace the wood structure with steel lettering, with the new monument dedicated (minus the -land dropped in 1949, the remaining parcels eventually becoming an extension of Griffin Park) in 1978, with various celebrities donating to the cause and sponsoring letters:
H: publisher of the trade paper, the Hollywood Independent, Terrence DonnellyO: singer Alice Cooper, in memory of comedian Groucho Marx
L: Blue Book auto appraisal guide publisher Les Kelley
L: actor Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy
Y: Hefner himself
W: singer Andy Williams
O: movie producer Giovanni Mazza
O: Warner Bros Records
D: Gribbitt graphic design company entrepreneur Dennis Lidtke
The target of guerilla alternations for political statements, the sign has been partially obscured and reshuffled a number of times, including in 1976 and again in 1987 to HOLYWOOD for papal visits, again in 1987 to OLLYWOOD during the Iran-Contra hearings and OIL WAR in 1990 in protest of the Gulf War.
