Hollywood Sign

What’s more filmtastic than the Hollywood Sign?

The Hollywood Sign is a famous sign located on the southern section of Mount Lee, which can be found in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills, in the state of California in the United States.
The Hollywood Sign was designed and constructed to advertise a newly organised housing region for a term of 18 months, from 1923, ordered by Harry Chandler, Los Angeles Times newspaper publisher and real estate developer, however the sign was left standing after this period and became iconic in the area.
The letters of the Hollywood Sign spell a capitalised ‘HOLLYWOOD’ in what is technically a horizontal line, although placement appears uneven due to an optical illusion when not viewed straight-on.
The ‘Hollywood Sign’ has also been known as the ‘Hollywoodland Sign’ in its history, due to the original letters of the sign reading ‘HOLLYWOODLAND’, which was the term used for the advertised land development; and the ‘LAND’ was removed in 1949 so Hollywood in general would be promoted.
Originally, 4000 light bulbs highlighted the Hollywood[land] Sign, which displayed each syllable individually before presenting the entire word; and the whole sign at the time cost 21,000 USD (equal to roughly 300,000 USD in 2014).

The Hollywood Sign benefited from various maintenance and restoration programs, however it was not until much deterioration had occurred that it was totally rebuilt in 1978, instigated by American Hugh Hefner, which involved replacing each of the original wooden letters with steel at a cost of around $27,700 USD each, and the costs were covered by donations from nine donors (mostly individuals) – one for each letter.
The Hollywood Sign spreads 107 metres (350 feet) in length and reaches 14 metres (45 feet) in height; and while it was being replaced in 1978, the mountain was without a sign for a period of three months.
The Hollywood Sign cannot be directly reached by the public through normal means as it is against the law to do so, and instead it is able to be viewed at a number of designated areas.
Occasionally parts or all of the Hollywood Sign have been covered to display a different word or phrase, although this is generally not approved of, and throughout its history, most of the alterations were done illegally.
Due to heavy vandalism and other intentional damages or changes, authorities have initiated much security around the Hollywood Sign, including guards, an in-built security system and barricades.

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