Interesting Facts On H O L L Y W O O D

By: Sunil Noronha
Friday, February 24, 2006

1. Hollywood was initially built in 1923 by Harry Chandler for a cost of $21,000. It was built to advertise the area "Hollywoodland". Built to last for only a year and a half, it lasted for more than eighty years and is still going strong.
2. In '39, there was a small white dot below the sign. It contained four thousand twenty watt bulbs to light up the structure and was maintained by a caretaker.
3. A piece of Hollywoodland was sold to the city of Los Angeles, which included the part of land that had the Hollywood sign on it.
4. In '49, L, A, N &D were removed and H was helped up because it was half toppled over. This form of the sign came to stay.
5. The sign deteriorated to wither until it fell under its own weight .It was brought back to shape by generous donors in '78 during which for three months because a new sign was being put up. Hugh Hefner held a fundraiser auctioning off each letter of the sign. Alice Cooper sponsored one O. Gene Aunty sponsored an L and Paul Williams a W.
6. Then in '95, to maintain the sign Hollywood Sign Trust was setup, which was created to keep the Hollywood Sign in top shape.
7. The Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce became the signs image and licensing manager. The sign itself became the property of the city of Los Angeles.
8. In 2000, lightning destroyed the signs surveillance booth and Panasonic was called to set up a security system for the sign with microwave triggered motion detectors, external alarms and a close circuit television network.

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