{"id":7441,"date":"2013-01-22T06:00:58","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/signs-blog.signs.com\/?p=7441"},"modified":"2026-06-08T18:12:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:12:06","slug":"20-fun-facts-about-the-hollywood-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/signs-blog.signs.com\/blog\/20-fun-facts-about-the-hollywood-sign\/","title":{"rendered":"20 Fun Facts About the Hollywood Sign"},"content":{"rendered":"<main id='bde-main'><section class=\"bde-section-7441-100 bde-section\">\n  \n  \n\t\n\n\n\n<div class=\"section-container\"><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-101 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>When you think of Hollywood, you might think of Humphrey Bogart gazing into Ingrid Bergman\u2019s eyes in\u00a0<em>Casablanca<\/em>. You might imagine Cary Grant tooling around the foothills in his 1929 Caddy, or Marilyn Monroe with her pouty lips and swirling white skirt in\u00a0<em>Some Like it Hot<\/em>. Or maybe you think of the modern Hollywood, with starlets toting around miniature canines in expensive handbags and reality TV stars giving interviews on the\u00a0<em>Tonight Show with Jay Leno<\/em>.<\/p><p>No matter what comes to mind, the Hollywood sign stands sentinel over all of it, an icon that stands for the glamour, optimism and grandeur that has defined Hollywood since its creation. Just for fun, here are 20 facts you might not know about the Hollywood sign.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-102 bde-heading\">\n1) The Hollywood Sign is almost 90 years old.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-103 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>The original Hollywood sign was constructed in 1923, the same year that Rin Tin Tin gained fame as a canine film star. Though it wasn\u2019t originally meant to be an icon for the film industry, the sign was created during the beginning of the glamorous, decadent Golden Age of Hollywood: in 1925,\u00a0<em>Ben Hur<\/em>\u00a0was released with its record-breaking production budget of $3.95 million.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-104 bde-heading\">\n2) The Hollywood sign wasn\u2019t created with the movies in mind.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-105 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>The sign wasn\u2019t created to advertise movies and starlets; it was created to advertise real estate. Developers S. H. Woodruff and Tracy E. Shoults began developing a new neighborhood called \u201cHollywoodland.\u201d The sign was meant to act as a huge billboard to draw new home buyers to the hillside.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-106 bde-heading\">\n3) The first sign didn\u2019t say \u201cHollywood.\u201d\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-107 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>To advertise the Hollywoodland development, the sign was composed of 13 letters that spelled out the development\u2019s name: \u201cHOLLYWOODLAND.\u201d The last four letters of the sign wouldn\u2019t be dropped until 1949.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-108 bde-heading\">\n4) The original Hollywood Sign was bigger than the current sign.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-109 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>The original letters were constructed of large sections of sheet metal and stood as high as 50 feet tall. They were held up with a complicated framing system that included wooden scaffold, pipes, wires and poles.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-110 bde-heading\">\n5) 4,000 light bulbs graced the original Hollywoodland sign.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-111 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>The bulbs were timed to blink so that the words \u201cHOLLY,\u201d \u201cWOOD,\u201d and \u201cLAND\u201d each lit up consecutively, followed by the entire word. This was not considered tacky, but rather quite progressive and modern. Each bulb generated only 8 watts of electricity, so 4,000 were needed in order to create the impressive display that Woodruff and Shoults needed to sell building lots.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-112 bde-heading\">\n6) The sign was a very expensive billboard.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-113 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>Considering that the original Hollywoodland sign was only intended to be an advertisement for a real estate development, it was quite expensive. The construction cost of the sign was around $21,000, which is roughly the equivalent of $250,000 in 2013 dollars. Imagine building a new neighborhood and paying a quarter of a million bucks to advertise it with one sign!<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-114 bde-heading\">\n7) An Englishman designed the Hollywood sign.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-115 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>Thomas Fisk Goff, the artist who created the Hollywood sign, was born in London in 1890. He immigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles in the early 1920\u2019s and opened the Crescent Sign Company. Woodruff and Shoults commissioned Goff to create and install the sign. In addition to owning a sign company, Goff was an artist who painted landscapes on canvas.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-116 bde-heading\">\n8) The sign had its very own caretaker.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-117 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>The real estate developers hired Albert Kothe to act as caretaker. In addition to other responsibilities, Albert was in charge of the maintenance of the Hollywoodland sign. One of his jobs was to replace the lightbulbs on the sign when they burnt out, a large task considering the number of bulbs and the height of each letter.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-118 bde-heading\">\n9) The original sign was only meant to last for 18 months.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-119 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>Since it was only intended to be a temporary advertisement for the new real estate development, the Hollywoodland sign was designed to be in place for about 18 months, while lots were sold.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-120 bde-heading\">\n10) The Hollywood sign was the site of a suicide.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-121 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>Sadly, the allure of fame and fortune was not reality for many who flocked to Hollywood in hopes of becoming actors and actresses. One such unlucky girl, Peg Entwistle, left New York City and moved in with her uncle in Los Angeles while she tried to become a film star. Despite her efforts at stardom, Peg failed to land the big role she\u2019d hoped for, and on September 18, 1932, she hiked up to the Hollywood sign, climbed a ladder to the top of the \u201cH\u201d and jumped to her death.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-122 bde-heading\">\n11) The Hollywoodland sign went dark in 1939.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-123 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>The stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Depression during the 1930\u2019s halted real estate development. Since lots were no longer being sold, illuminating the Hollywoodland sign was no longer a priority. Times were tough, so caretaker Albert Kothe stripped the copper wiring from the sign and sold it for scrap.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-124 bde-heading\">\n12) The sign was hit by a car.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-125 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>You might not think that a sign perched on the side of a steep hill would be in danger of being hit by a car. But one night, Albert Kothe had a little too much too drink. He drove his 1928 Ford station wagon right off the cliff just above the sign. The car rolled down the hill, smashing into the \u201cH.\u201d Luckily, Albert was OK, but both the Ford and the \u201cH\u201d were destroyed.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-126 bde-heading\">\n13) The sign was almost torn down completely in 1949.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-127 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>In 1944 the city of Los Angeles purchased 455 acres from the Hollywoodland developers, including the land on which the Hollywoodland sign sat. The city didn\u2019t necessarily want a huge real estate billboard, but they let the sign sit there for another five years until they decided to tear it down. But residents who had come to love the sign protested its removal. The city, along with the Chamber of Commerce, agreed to salvage it, with the understanding that they would remove the \u201cLAND\u201d from the end of the sign so that it represented the community, not a real estate development. They fixed the broken \u201cH\u201d and renovated the rest of the letters.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-128 bde-heading\">\n14) The Hollywood sign is an official landmark.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-129 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>By 1973, the sign was seriously deteriorated again, broken-down and rusty. The city slapped another coat of paint on it and also declared it \u201cL.A. Cultural and Historical Monument #111.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-130 bde-heading\">\n15) In the 1970\u2019s, the sign went to pot.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-131 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>On January 1, 1976, prankster Danny Finegood hung curtains over the last two \u201cO\u2019s\u201d in the sign, changing it to read \u201cHOLLYWEED\u201d to commemorate the introduction of a more relaxed marijuana law in California.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-132 bde-heading\">\n16) A playboy, a rocker and a singing cowboy saved the sign.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-133 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>The paint job in 1973 didn\u2019t last for long. Five years later, the sign looked worse than ever. The Chamber of Commerce determined that it needed a very expensive overhaul. Hugh Hefner held a fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion. Each of the nine letters was auctioned for $28,000 to raise the needed renovation money. The benefactors for each letter were as follows:<\/p><p>H- Terrence Donnelly (a newspaper publisher)<br \/>O- Alice Cooper (rock star)<br \/>L- Les Kelley (businessman and creator of the Kelley Blue Book)<br \/>L- Gene Autrey (singer and actor)<br \/>Y- Hugh Hefner (founder of Playboy magazine)<br \/>W- Andy Williams (singer)<br \/>O-Giovanni Mazza (Italian movie producer)<br \/>O- Warner Bros. Studios<br \/>D-Thomas Pooley<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-134 bde-heading\">\n17) The Hollywood sign was lit for the Olympics\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-135 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>In 1984, Los Angeles hosted the Olympic Summer Games. During the games, the Hollywood sign was illuminated for the first time since 1949.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-136 bde-heading\">\n18)  Modern visitors can\u2019t hike to the sign.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-137 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>Because the sign is perched on a very steep hill and because the city of Los Angeles doesn\u2019t want to be sued, visitors are no longer allowed to hike right up to the sign. The city might be worried that they will plummet to their deaths, get bitten by a rattlesnake or start a brush fire that will consume some of the expensive real estate below the sign.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-138 bde-heading\">\n19) The Hollywood sign has almost as much security as Fort Knox.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-139 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>In order to keep people away from the sign and keep the sign from being vandalized, a specially-designed security system was developed. The Department of Homeland Security even got involved\u2026 that\u2019s how serious L.A. is about protecting its iconic sign. The security involves razor wire, infrared technology, 24 hour monitoring, motion sensors, alarms and helicopter patrols.<\/p>\n<\/div><h2 class=\"bde-heading-7441-140 bde-heading\">\n20) The sign has its very own trust fund.\n<\/h2><div class=\"bde-rich-text-7441-141 bde-rich-text decoration-none breakdance-rich-text-styles\">\n<p>The Hollywood Sign Trust was created in 1992 for the purpose of maintaining and promoting the Hollywood sign. It continues to care for the sign today. The most recent renovation included a shiny, new paint job and webcams that allow Internet visitors to see the sign 24\/7.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section><\/main>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you think of Hollywood, you might think of Humphrey Bogart gazing into Ingrid Bergman\u2019s eyes in Casablanca. You might imagine Cary Grant tooling around the foothills in his 1929 Caddy, or Marilyn Monroe with her pouty lips and swirling white skirt in Some Like it Hot. Or maybe you think of the modern Hollywood, with starlets [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_breakdance_hide_in_design_set":false,"_breakdance_tags":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1216],"tags":[249,247,248,662,669],"class_list":["post-7441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing-inspiration","tag-famous-signs","tag-hollywood-sign","tag-los-angeles","tag-pop-culture","tag-sign-history"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>20 Fun Facts About the Hollywood Sign | Signs.com Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"No matter what comes to mind, the Hollywood sign stands sentinel over all of it, an icon that stands for the glamour, optimism and grandeur that has defined Hollywood since its creation. 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