Ryan Murphy's new Netflix miniseries, Hollywood, features the famous Hollywood sign throughout its seven-episode run but with a key difference - here's why it reads 'Hollywoodland' in the show. Netflix's limited series establishes an alternate version of Hollywood's Golden Age, telling the story of a group of filmmakers and actors chasing stardom and dealing with the industry's representation issues. After the fictional Ace Studios green-lights a bold new movie project, 1940s Hollywood becomes a much more inclusive and diverse place than its real-life counterpart ever was. The project itself involves telling the true story of actress Peg Entwistle, who committed suicide in 1932 by leaping to her death from the top of the 'H' in the Hollywood sign.
From the beginning, that legendary typography that sits atop Mount Lee plays a central role in Ryan Murphy's series. In fact, the sign itself features in the very first scene of the show, where Jack Costello (David Corenswet) sits in a cinema watching news of the "starry-eyed dreamers" swarming outside Hollywood studio gates. This first glimpse of the sign, reading 'Hollywoodland', is historically accurate to how it appeared in the mid-40s. It is, of course, this same sign that the Hollywood cast climb during the show's opening credit sequence.
These days, the word 'Hollywood' emblazoned across a particular stretch of the Santa Monica Mountains has become an indelible symbol for the epicenter of moviemaking over which it sits. So why does it appear differently in Hollywood? Well, as it turns out, the sign itself has a history almost as storied as the town it represents.
The Origin Of The Hollywood Sign
Now a worldwide symbol for the film industry, the Hollywood sign was actually conceived of as a temporary promotional stunt for the Hollywoodland housing development – these days known as Beachwood Canyon. Back in 1923, developers Woodruff and Shoults envisioned the new neighborhood sitting on the side of the Hollywood Hills – the location of George Cukor's gay pool parties, also depicted in the show. That same year Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler, who had invested in the development, would build the first version of the sign. Costing $21,000 and made up of 43-ft letters, the giant emblem was originally lit up in sections, with 4,000 light bulbs illuminating the various parts of the word in sequence: Holly-Wood-Land.
Constructed using pipes, scaffolding, and telephone poles, the impressive marquee would remain in place despite being originally conceived of as a year-and-a-half-long promotional stunt. With its unprecedented scale and eye-catching illuminated design, the sign itself quickly came to represent more than the housing development it originally referred to. Unfortunately, things would take a dark turn in 1932, when actress Peg Entwistle threw herself to her death from the top of the sign's 'H'. It was this tragic event that inspired Hollywood's plot and some of its characters, with Ace studios producing a version of Peg's story but changing her name to Meg Ennis and casting a black actress, named Camille Washington (Laura Harrier) to play her.
Why 'Hollywoodland' Was Changed To 'Hollywood'
The Hollywoodland sign remained in place throughout the great depression and World War II, but by the end of the 1940s had fallen into disrepair. The Netflix series takes place circa 1947, but had it been set any later, the wording would have looked very different. In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce decided to restore the once-impressive attraction, which by that point had become almost completely dilapidated and was even missing the 'H', which had crumbled in the years prior. Following a public outcry, original plans to deconstruct the sign were scrapped in favor of a full-on restoration. It was during this restoration that 'land' was removed from the end of the lettering, completing the sign's transformation into a symbol of tinseltown collectively, rather than the original housing development.
Netflix's Hollywood, with its rewriting of history, takes place just before this restoration took place, and thus features the original 'Hollywoodland' lettering. During a point when TV was threatening to undermine the film industry in the U.S, the sign itself almost became a casualty of the changing times. Now, it's hard to imagine LA without the famous monument, but the Hollywood Hills came very close to being completely blank by the middle of the century. Thankfully, just like Meg Ennis in the Netflix show, a last minute rescue attempt was successful and the sign remains in place – shorter in length but so much bigger than its architects ever intended.