Every year at the Oscars, the cameras pan to the famed Hollywood sign and its bold white letters.
Ask someone today what the sign symbolizes, and the same words will likely crop up: Movies. Stardom. Glamour.
But as I point in my book on the Hollywood sign, the sign didn't always represent fame and fortune. As the city changed, so did the meaning of the sign, which, at one point, was even considered a public nuisance.
Come to … Hollywoodland?
California has long possessed the lure of material and personal fulfillment.
What started as a destination for those hoping to strike gold became, in the late 19th century, a mecca for anyone with real or imagined ailments. The state's temperate climate and natural springs, guidebooks claimed, possessed “restorative powers for weakened dispositions.”
Read Full Article »