Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren
Speaker 1: bolbabaum Here. The Hollywood Sign is California's most famous billboard
Speaker 1: turned landmark. It's turning one hundred this year, so today,
Speaker 1: let's look back at its first century of history. Perched
Speaker 1: at the top of Mount Lee in Griffith Park above
Speaker 1: the sprawl of Los Angeles, the Hollywood Sign appears in
Speaker 1: the background of countless film scenes and tourist photos for
Speaker 1: the article. This episode is based on How Stuff Work.
Speaker 1: Spoke with Casey Schreiner, author of the guidebook Discovering Griffith Park,
Speaker 1: a locals guide. He said, it's hard to think about
Speaker 1: LA and not picture the Sign. I'd be hard pressed
Speaker 1: to think of a more iconic landmark. Angelino's think of
Speaker 1: it the way Parisians think of the Eiffel Tower. People
Speaker 1: are drawn to it because it symbolizes a dream and
Speaker 1: a kind of ambition that only exists in LA. But
Speaker 1: while it now has iconic status that's helped it last
Speaker 1: a century, the Hollywood Sign had much more humble beginnings.
Speaker 1: When it was first constructed in nineteen twenty three, it
Speaker 1: was basically a billboard. It served as an advertisement for
Speaker 1: the Hollywood Land neighborhood, and it spelled out Hollywood Land
Speaker 1: with those four extra letters not present today. It was
Speaker 1: also covered in light bulbs, roughly four thousand of them
Speaker 1: that blinked all night. It cost twenty one thousand dollars
Speaker 1: to build that's over three hundred and eighty thousand in
Speaker 1: today's money, and was designed to last just eighteen months.
Speaker 1: Instead it stood for decades. Schreiner explained there was a
Speaker 1: guy whose job it was to screw in the light
Speaker 1: bulbs when they went out. He lived in a shack
Speaker 1: below the sign. By the late nineteen forties, the sign
Speaker 1: had fallen into disrepair and the Hollywood Land real estate
Speaker 1: development had folded. Some said the sign should be bulldozed,
Speaker 1: but the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce stepped in and had
Speaker 1: it rebuilt, this time without the land. By the nineteen
Speaker 1: seventies the sign needed help again. Rather than an advertisement,
Speaker 1: it was an Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine,
Speaker 1: stepped in to raise money. He threw one nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: eight gala at his famous mansion and auctioned each letter
Speaker 1: of the sign to a different celebrity or corporate sponsor,
Speaker 1: including gene Autry, Andy Williams, Alice Cooper, and Warner Brothers
Speaker 1: records the price tag of just over twenty seven thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a letter was enough to fund a total restoration.
Speaker 1: That's over one hundred and thirty thousand per letter in
Speaker 1: today's money, in total, around three times what the original
Speaker 1: sign cost to build. The old sign was torn down
Speaker 1: and three months later a new one went up. Unlike
Speaker 1: the wood and sheet metal construction of the original, the
Speaker 1: new version was made of steel, mounted to steel columns
Speaker 1: and sunk into a sturdy concrete foundation. Since the new
Speaker 1: sign was unveiled, it's been repeatedly powerwashed and repainted to
Speaker 1: keep it in good condition. However, there have been other
Speaker 1: threats to the iconic view of the sign. It turns
Speaker 1: out the beautiful undeveloped land around it wasn't part of
Speaker 1: Great Park, which is the huge public park that now
Speaker 1: also houses the Los Angeles Zoo, the Griffith Observatory, and
Speaker 1: the Autrey Museum of the American West. A Scheiner said
Speaker 1: it turned out it was private land tied to Howard Hughes.
Speaker 1: He wanted to build a mansion up there for some
Speaker 1: starlet and she basically said, if I go up there,
Speaker 1: I'm never coming down alive. The starlet was Ginger Rogers. Hughes,
Speaker 1: the fabulously rich businessman, bought the parcel of land when
Speaker 1: the pair were engaged in nineteen forty and planned to
Speaker 1: build a massive castle with sweeping views of the city.
Speaker 1: He even went to court with the city over the
Speaker 1: right to build an access road and one before anything
Speaker 1: was built. However, the relationship dissolved and the parcel became
Speaker 1: a forgotten piece of the Howard Hughes estate until after
Speaker 1: changing hands a number of times. In twenty ten, a
Speaker 1: developer put a big parcel on the market just to
Speaker 1: the left of the signs h The city scrambled to
Speaker 1: pull together money to buy it, but only raised by
Speaker 1: about six of the twenty two million dollar asking price.
Speaker 1: Enter Hugh Hefner again, as Shiner said, he helped again
Speaker 1: and gave the city some of the money it needed
Speaker 1: to buy the land and add it to Griffith Park.
Speaker 1: Griffith Park is one of the largest suburban wilderness parks
Speaker 1: in the country. It's four times bigger than Golden Gate
Speaker 1: Park in San Francisco. It's right in the middle of
Speaker 1: the city. From there you can see Universal Studios and
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers Studios. You're near a lot of stuff, and
Speaker 1: there is a huge amount of wildlife and native plants.
Speaker 1: In honor of the Sign centennial, the Hollywood Sign Trust
Speaker 1: has announced plans to build a visitors center for now.
Speaker 1: There are a number of ways to experience the landmark,
Speaker 1: including hiking up Mount Lee. Keep in mind that the
Speaker 1: trail ends behind the sign, so while it's a great
Speaker 1: vista of La it's not a good view of the
Speaker 1: sign itself. Shiner said. You can drive to a viewpoint,
Speaker 1: but it's in a residential neighborhood. The roads were built
Speaker 1: in the twenties and they're narrow. But there are dozens
Speaker 1: of places to see the sign. He cited the views
Speaker 1: from the Lake Hollywood Reservoir and from the West Observatory
Speaker 1: Trail as his favorites, but said it's always well worth
Speaker 1: a look. Quote. It's big. It's bigger than it looks.
Speaker 1: I think most people when they come to Hollywood are
Speaker 1: a bit disappointed at how small things look in real life.
Speaker 1: The sign is the opposite it over delivers. Today's episode
Speaker 1: is based on the article Stardust and Scandal. The Hollywood
Speaker 1: Sign turns one hundred on how Stuffworks dot Com, written
Speaker 1: by Kate Morgan. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio
Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced
Speaker 1: by Tyler Klan and Ramsey. Youm four more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.