HollywoodLand

In this episode - HollywoodLand . . .

If you've had the pleasure of visiting Los Angeles (L.A.), you surely wouldn't have missed the Hollywood sign - it has been a testament to the film industry for almost a century. It stands tall on Mount Lee, in Griffith Park (50-foot-tall letters), and is considered the iconic location for a photo-op in the City of Angels. The Hollywood sign represents fame, fortune, and glamour people aspire to achieve in the entertainment industry. However, some lesser-known facts about this famous landmark might surprise you.

It's worth noting that the Hollywood Sign was originally created as a marketing tactic for a real estate project. In 1923, Harry Chandler, an investor in the Hollywoodland housing development, shelled out $21,000 to erect a billboard on Mount Lee. The sign was unique because it was illuminated at night by 4,000 20-watt light bulbs, making it a true marvel of electric advertising. The lights were timed so that the words "HOLLY," "WOOD," and "LAND" lit up in order. Interestingly, the L.A. Parks Department eventually removed the word "land" in 1949 to better represent the entire district.

Hollywood was a peaceful community created by real estate developer Harvey Wilcox and his wife in 1883. The origin of the name is unclear, with various theories including the abundance of holly in the mountains and a friend’s suggestion.

The Hollywood sign has been vandalized many times, including on January 1, 2017, when someone changed it to read "Hollyweed." This was a copycat of a similar prank from 41 years earlier when a group of college activists changed the sign to celebrate relaxed marijuana laws.

After World War II, the Hollywood Sign was restored, but by the late 1970s, it had fallen into complete disrepair. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce demanded $25,000 for its restoration, or it would be removed for being an “eyesore.”

To prevent the loss of this iconic piece of Los Angeles history, Hugh Hefner hosted a charity event at the Playboy Mansion, auctioning off each letter to celebrities willing to pay a high price for a part of history. This effort raised enough funds to rebuild the sign from scratch and replace it with a more durable all-steel structure.

Despite this victory, the Hollywood Sign faced another threat in 2010 when real estate developers sought to buy the adjacent land for construction. In response, Hefner generously donated $900,000 to a conservation group to preserve the land. Hefner's last-minute effort ensured the preservation of the area surrounding the Hollywood Sign, which is now a protected parkland with public walking trails.

The sign is on rough, steep terrain, with barriers preventing unauthorized access. In 2000 the Los Angeles Police Department installed a security system featuring motion detection and closed-circuit cameras. Any movement in the marked restricted areas triggers an alarm that notifies the police.

So when you’re in LA, Griffith Park is your best access point for those iconic “selfie” photos with the Hollywood sign.

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening. I'll see you in the next episode.

Comments

Morning Coffee

In this episode, Morning Coffee . . . Now, I’m not saying everyone needs coffee. Some folks get by just fine on, I don’t know, sunlight and positive thinking. Me? I’m pretty sure I started drinking the stuff sometime around the Reagan administration. Reading John Gierach’s "Ode to Campfire Coffee" in Trout Bum (a book that should be required reading for anyone who sees sleeping on the ground as recreation) got me thinking about how we’ve managed to complicate something as fundamentally simple as boiling water and adding grounds. Taste, you say? Look, black coffee is an acquired taste, like tequila or cilantro. I just don’t get it. Gierach, bless his heart, mostly drinks his java streamside, probably while wearing wool socks and waders and contemplating the mysteries of the universe. As for me? My outdoor coffee experience is a bit different. Picture this: the High Sierra, where campfires are banned (to avoid agitating Smoky Bear), and I’m huddled over a Whisperlite , coax...

The Endless Work of Wisdom

It always makes me smile. The moment people learn I've officially entered what I like to call the Great Un-Working (retirement), they almost immediately ask the same question: “So . . . What do you do now?" I think they're expecting me to say I'm restoring a vintage sports car, hiking the John Muir Trail, or finally becoming fluent in French. Instead, I tell them: "I live life deliberately." That's usually the point when I get a polite nod, followed by the unmistakable look of someone wondering whether I've simply found a more sophisticated way to say, “I’m becoming a bum.” Apparently, "living deliberately" sounds suspiciously like unemployment, just better branding. The truth is, what living deliberately looks like for me right now is taking time to synthesize a lifetime of experiences into these weekly reflections. It's slowing down long enough to ask what those experiences have taught me, while keeping the door wide open to the poss...

A Tucson Typewriter Tale

One of the great joys of wandering without much of a plan is that the universe occasionally rewards your lack of organization. During my recent visit to Tucson, AZ, Robert and I were strolling through the Annex this afternoon, doing what tourists and newly minted retirees like me have elevated to an Olympic sport: meandering. The Annex is one of those places where every few steps there's another handmade candle, artisan coffee, or vintage object someone rescued from a garage sale and convinced the rest of us was always destined to become art. Then I saw something that genuinely stopped me. A young woman standing quietly behind a manual typewriter. Not a laptop designed to look like a typewriter. Not a quirky Bluetooth keyboard. An honest-to-goodness mechanical typewriter—the sort of machine that once announced every sentence to the entire office with a satisfying clack and enough force to wake nearby pigeons. With an iPhone 16 sitting in my pocket in an age when people write novels...

A B+ Kind of Life

Welcome back to this week's On the Fly . Retirement has taught me something unexpected: life gets a lot more enjoyable when you stop chasing perfection. Lately, I've been having an absolute blast playing executive par-3 courses like Rancho Carlsbad . A short iron, a sunny morning, and nowhere to be except the next tee—that's my kind of day. This Thursday, though, I'm raising the stakes. I'm heading to The Links at Lakehouse in San Marcos, a full-size par-71 course with enough water hazards to keep the local fish well-stocked with my golf balls. After shooting a 64 on a par-3 course, I've set myself a new goal: shoot an 89 before my birthday next August. Why 89? Because on a par-71 course, that's bogey golf—one extra stroke per hole. For non-golfers, think of it this way: par is like earning 100% on a final exam. Bogey golf is a solid B+. You got the job done, learned something, and probably had a lot more fun getting there. The older I get, the more I appre...

On The Fly

Search This Blog