Hollywood sign celebrates 100 years of battling the elements to enjoy perpetual youth
Santa Ana winds, earthquakes, landslides, rain, graffiti and termites -- the chairman of the Hollywood Sign Trust explains how the sign weathered 100 years. Dec. 8, 1923 was the first time the sign was lit up for everyone to see.
Hollywood sign turns 100
The iconic Hollywood sign is celebrating 100 years of battling the elements. Max Gorden reports.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Hollywood's biggest star, lengthwise, turned 100 years old Friday. The icon of movies, television and music has had a little help over the years battling Mother Nature to keep its youthful appearance.
"The sign has to weather it all, so to speak," said Jeff Zarrinnam, Chairman of the Hollywood Sign Trust, after its most recent facelift. "It's not going anywhere, except in disaster movies."
That was not always the case, Zarrinnam recalled. He calls himself the voice of the sign because the grande dame of Hollywood can't speak for itself.
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Aging ungracefully
Termites, dry rot, hurricane-force Santa Ana winds, wildfires, pollution, atmospheric river-fueled rains, landslides, neglect and even snow have hammered and eaten away at the aging beauty over the years.
The land was originally slated for a new upscale real estate subdivision of about 500 homes called Hollywoodland, Zarrinnam said. Developers spent $21,000 on the giant sign atop what is now Mt. Lee, part of Griffith Park.
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File: A sign advertises the opening of the Hollywoodland housing development in the hills on Mulholland Drive overlooking Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, circa 1924. The white building below the sign is the Kanst Art Gallery.
(Underwood Archives / Getty Images)
"This sign was only meant to last about 18 months. It was put up very quickly with telephone poles and sheet metal that were nailed in," Zarrinnam said, adding that the poles were in bare dirt. "They weren't screwed into the wood (just nailed). So these things would fly off in all different directions with the Santa Anas."
The telephone-type poles were 60 feet tall. The sign sported 3,700 light bulbs which glowed at night for the first time on Dec. 8, 1923. The trust's website quotes the Los Angeles Evening Express' coverage of the event: "… immense Hollywoodland Sign, believed to be the largest in the world, will be illuminated tonight."
File: The illuminated Hollywoodland sign at night on Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hills, overlooking Hollywood in Los Angeles, California circa 1928.
(Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)
"They (developers) donated about 425 acres or so to the city of Los Angeles in lieu of paying the taxes," Zarrinnam said. "So they just donated it for $1 to the city, which included a dilapidated Hollywoodland sign where the "H" had actually fallen down," he said. "So that's how that kind of started off. And it remained that way from 1945, all the way to 1949."
After a failed bid by the Parks and Recreation Department to tear down the sign, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce rebuilt the "H" and one of the "O"s lost in a windstorm. It finally removed "land" in 1949, turning the giant from an ad for housing to a symbol of the entertainment and motion picture industry. A pivotal moment in the sign's history, Zarrinnam said.
From embarrassment to icon
Winds, rot and pests took their toll again on the sign after years of neglect, despite it becoming an official landmark in 1973. Hollywood, the district, was turning 75, but the old sign was looking less than iconic for a planned jubilee, according to Zarrinnam. The third "O" was missing, part of the "Y" collapsed, half the "D" slid downhill and an arsonist set fire to the bottom of the second "L".
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File: The sign missing some sheet metal in 1972.
(Davis/Express/Hulton Archive / Getty Images)
"It was a miracle that it lasted actually 55 years, barely," Zarrinnam said. "So by 1978, it was a total mess, a twisted mess."
Zarrinnam, then a child growing up in Hollywood, distinctly remembers the sign in 1977 when relatives from Europe visited.
"They were looking up, and they said, ‘Is that the Hollywood sign,’ with a big question mark? ‘Why is it broken?’" Zarrinnam recalled. "Being from Hollywood, being proud of my city, that was the first time I really felt embarrassed and ashamed of my city."
Fundraising began for a makeover, but engineering reports painted a bleak picture – the sign was beyond repair and would need to be replaced. So the whole thing was removed in 1978 and rebuilt, this time using steel "I" beams, sheet metal screwed into the infrastructure and concrete, according to Zarrinnam. For three months, there was no sign.
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Celebrities donated money to repair letters, according to the trust. Rocker Alice Cooper funded the third "O" in honor of Groucho Marx and Warner Brothers Records took the second "O." Crooner Andy Williams sponsored the "W" and the "Y" was dedicated to Hugh Hefner to thank him for his fundraising efforts for the project. TV cowboy Gene Autrey took the second "L" and the founder of Kelley Blue Book funded the first.
The Chamber of Commerce formed the nine-member Hollywood Sign Trust in 1978 to ensure its upkeep – one member for each letter.
At the time, it was the largest sign in the world, according to the trust:
- 450-feet long
- 11,850-square feet of sign
- Weighs 240 tons
- 45-foot tall letters
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Eventually, the trust erected a fence around the sign and installed a security system that allows the L.A. Police Department to talk to anyone breaching the boundary.
Birthday bash for the big sign
Just in time for the sign's 100th birthday, it got a facelift. Sherwin-Williams brought a 10-member crew in for over a month to sand, grind, repair rust spots, apply rust inhibitor and spray 450 gallons of primer and paint onto it.
"This paint that we use is a very special paint," Zarrinnam said. "It's called Emerald Rain Refresh, so that it's a self-cleaning paint that's about $145 a gallon. It's not your regular exterior paint," he said. "And, there's somewhat of a glow at night."
During the rehab, crews re-discovered momentos from the 1978 crew. In 2022, the 3-foot-thick dirt that had piled up around the sign's foundation due to erosion and landslides was removed. There were the names and handprints of the men and women in the concrete they installed.
Workers who rebuilt the Hollywood Sign in 1978 signed the wet concrete. Crews clearing out the feet of dirt that accumulated at the base of the sign in 2022, rediscovered the names.
(Hollywood Sign Trust / FOX Weather)
Zarrinnam said that in just a year, a few inches of dirt had already built up again, especially against the two "L"s because they are the closest to the ground.
What's next for the iconic sign?
Watch: Hollywood's biggest star gets a facelift before birthday
The Hollywood Sign turned 100 years old on December 8, 2023 and it got a facelift for the occasion. Sherwin-Williams teamed up the the Hollywood Sign Trust and repaired and repainted the star. Take a look at the time-lapse video.
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The trust plans to do more planting around the sign to prevent erosion, especially during this El Niño winter with a wetter-than-normal forecast. The group is also replacing security cameras.
Zarrinnam stayed silent about the sign's role in the upcoming Olympics and World Cup Soccer.
Hiking to the sign is free. For a shortcut, check out the trust's 24/7 webcam.