... originally read HOLLYWOODLAND. Its purpose was to advertise a new, segregated, whites–only housing development of that name, in the hills above Hollywood (which is a district of Los Angeles).
The sign was studded with around 4,000 light bulbs, which flashed in segments: "HOLLY," "WOOD," and "LAND" lit up individually, and then the whole.
It was originally intended to stand for only 18 months, but it quickly became associated with the burgeoning American film industry and was left in place.
In the early 1940s, the sign's official caretaker (one Alfred Kohle), under the influence of alcohol, drove his car off the cliff above the sign and destroyed the letter H. Kohle's car was also written off, but he himself was uninjured.
The letters that spelt "LAND" were removed in 1949, when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce contracted the City of Los Angeles Parks Department to repair and rebuild the sign. Even so, by the 1970s, the unprotected wood and sheet metal structure had deteriorated to the extent that the first O had splintered and broken, resembling a lowercase u, and the third O had fallen down completely. The sign read "HuLLYWO D".
In 1978, Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner launched a public campaign to restore the Hollywood landmark. Nine donors gave equal sums totalling $250,000 (less seven cents) to fund one letter each. The new letters were 45 feet tall; as well as Hefner himself, the donors included Gene Autry, Andy Williams and Alice Cooper (the last in memory of his friend Groucho Marx, who had died in the previous year).
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