Yesterday, on January 30, at around 10:00 am, a group of my friends and I drove about an hour to and then hiked an approximately 3 mile trail (including about a mile and a half of expensive neighborhoods to get on the actual trail) to the Hollywood Sign in Griffith Park. This white, capital-lettered sign spelling “HOLLYWOOD,” was a magnificent sight to see, especially from how close we were. An interesting observation we had was that from further away, the sign appeared wavy, but the closer we got, the more aligned it seemed to get. The terrain of the surrounding land that we hiked was a very accurate representation of the dry lands Southern California, and we experienced the usual hot and dry weather that distinguishes the usual climate in Los Angeles. Since it was illegal to go to the actual sign, we pretty much just hiked up there, took some pictures of the sign and the beautiful view of the land and the Pacific ocean from the top of the hill/mountain, and then left. However, it was still a nice experience, and I finally got to cross it off my bucket list, despite having lived in this area my entire life. Despite it not being a big deal to us, the Hollywood Sign is like a cultural symbol of one of LA’s most famous and unique attributes that distinguishes it from other places like “NOCal,” or the East Coast of the U.S.: the film industry. According to Wikipedia, this 45-foot tall and 350-foot long sign was originally made to advertise new houses in the area. This is why it used to be the Hollywoodland sign. However, after cinema started to boom in the area that the sign overlooked, the sign was kept; in fact, after some deterioration and vandalism from graffiti and alterations like “HOLLYWEED,” the sign was restored by rich donors like Hugh Hefner and Warner Brother’s Studio, in the area to just spell “HOLLYWOOD,” as well as have a better security system to prevent future vandalism. Since then, the sign has been used in American popular culture so much that many people would recognize its representation of a media-based city in Los Angeles County, if it were showcased in a movie or something like it has many times before. Basically, this one sign is an icon of the central location and birthplace of one of the leading industries in America, and even the world: Hollywood. Maybe that’s why there were so many tourists. After all, who doesn’t like a good American movie?
Very cool that this relates exactly to what we talked about in class today! The only time I’ve gone to see the Hollywood sigh was when I was little, so of course everything was much larger from that perspective, but I do remember it being breathtakingly beautiful and kind of surreal since it is seen in so many movies and portrayals of LA like you said. Well said!