Los Angeles is a city that has become synonymous with fame, fortune and a sprawling landscape. Historic Hollywood Sign is the most prominent of these landmarks, perched on top of the Santa Monica Mountains. Few people are aware that beneath the towering letters of this famous landmark, a hidden gem once graced the hills. It was a swimming pool which played an important role in the development of modern television.
This year, the Hollywood sign celebrates its 100th birthday. The Hollywood sign was originally erected as ” HOLLYWOODLAND” in 1923. It began as a massive advertisement for a developer who sold canyon-side parcels. The sign was originally intended to be temporary, but gained popularity as LA’s populations grew. In the 1940s the sign, and the surrounding were changed. A flattened mountaintop was intended for an ornate house by Mack Sennett. This vision never came to fruition.
Enter Don Lee. He was a pioneering television and radio personality. In 1938, Lee’s Don Lee Company saw an opportunity to overcome the problem of hilly terrain disrupting TV broadcast signals. Mack Sennett sold them the land, and they built a modern production facility, complete with a 300-foot antenna, the tallest broadcast antenna in the world. The facility included a surprising luxury: a swimming pool.
In the following years, the facility was used to broadcast a variety of film and TV programs. Bathing Beauties, a segment that featured women in modest swimwear and lounging by the pool, was particularly notable. By the mid-1940s technological advances had shifted the focus to Mount Wilson, a nearby mountain range. The Hollywood facility was in decline.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took over the sign in 1949 and transformed it into what we know today. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce removed the letters “LAND”, leaving only the word “HOLLYWOOD”. In 1978, it underwent a further restoration, which included contributions from notable individuals like Gene Autry, and Alice Cooper.
The Hollywood sign is now fenced in and out of reach for tourists. It’s protected by security measures such as motion sensors and helicopter patrols. Mount Lee, the peak on which the Hollywood sign is located, has been named after Don Lee. His pool was paved over and his legacy endures.
The forgotten Hollywood Sign Pool is located in Los Angeles’ heart, where dreams were made and entertainment history was written. It stands as a testimony to a bygone era, when innovation and excess existed alongside the desire to capture audiences with the new medium of television.
Bob Plunkett/The Huntington
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