History of Hollywood, California
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History of Hollywood, California
Hollywood was established in 1853, with a single adobe hut on land outside Los Angeles, California . Growing crops was so successful there that by  1870, Hollywood became a thriving agricultural community.
One of its most notable historic figures was real estate tycoon, Harvey  Henderson Wilcox and his wife, Daeida, who moved to Los Angeles from Topeka, Kansas , in the 1880s. Wilcox, having lost the use of his legs from  a bout with typhoid fever prior to moving out west, bought 160 acres of land  west of the city, at the foothills near the Cahuenga Pass.
The town's name came from Daeida, who, while on a train trip east met a woman that  described her country home in Ohio , that had been named for the Dutch  settlement of Hollywood. Liking the name, Daeida christened their ranch  "Hollywood," upon her return.
On February 1, 1887, Wilcox submitted a grid map of his new town to the Los  Angeles County recorder's office. This was the first official document with  the name "Hollywood" printed on it. The first street in town was named  Prospect Avenue, but was later changed to Hollywood Boulevard, where city lots  were carved out around dirt avenues and pepper trees. At one time, English  holly was planted in the area, but it didn't survive in the arid climate.
By 1900, Hollywood had a population of 500, a post office, a  newspaper, a hotel, and two markets. In neighboring Los Angeles, through  seven miles of orange groves, the population had reached 100,000. There was a  single-track streetcar line that twisted its way along Prospect Avenue, on  an irregular schedule, into the city on a two-hour trip.
By 1902, the first portion of the famous Hollywood Hotel was built. A new  trolley car system was installed in 1904, cutting the travel time  dramatically. The system was called the "Hollywood Boulevard." Due to its  ongoing struggles to maintain an adequate water supply, residents voted to  have Hollywood annexed by the City of Los Angeles and its new aqueduct  system.
Studios flee to Hollywood
In the early 1900s, filmmakers began moving to the Los Angeles area to get  away from the strict rules imposed by Thomas Edison 's Motion Picture  Patents Company in New Jersey . Since most of the moviemaking patents  were owned by Edison, independent filmmakers were often sued by Edison to  stop their productions.
To escape his control, and because of the ideal weather conditions and  varied terrain, moviemakers began to arrive in Los Angeles to make their  films. If agents from Edison's company came out west to find and stop these  filmmakers, adequate notice allowed for a quick escape to Mexico.
Working without disturbance from Edison, the Biograph Company moved west  with actors Blanche Sweet, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore,  and others, to make their films. After beginning filming in Los Angeles, the  company decided to explore the neighboring area and stumbled across  Hollywood.
Biograph made the first film in Hollywood, entitled In Old  California. After hearing of Biograph's praise of the area, other  filmmakers headed west to set up shop.
The first motion picture studio was built in 1919, in nearby Edendale, just  east of Hollywood, by Selig Polyscope Company, and the first one built in  Hollywood was founded by filmmaker David Horsley's general manager Al Christie in 1911, in an old building on the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street. Movie studios began to crop up all over Hollywood after Christie's appearance, including ones for Cecil B. DeMille in 1913, the Charlie Chaplin Studio in 1917, and many others.
The timeless symbol of the film industry
The origin of the famous "Hollywood" sign is embedded in Americana. It was  installed originally to advertise a new subdivision near the top of Mount  Lee, called "Hollywoodland."
After being erected in 1923, the sign fell into disrepair. The Hollywood  Chamber of Commerce was given authority to remove the last four letters and  restore the remaining portions of the sign on the hillside, in 1943. The  sign is now a registered trademark owned by the Chamber of Commerce, and may  only be used in filming with their permission.
The famous "Hollywood Walk of Fame," where the names of celebrities are  embedded in the sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard, was built in 1956. There  are some 2,200 five-pointed stars given by the Chamber for being significant  contributors to the entertainment industry.
At a rate of nearly two per month, the stars now extend past Sycamore Avenue  to LaBrea Avenue, ending at the Silver Four Ladies of Hollywood Gazebo. They  are permanent fixtures in the sidewalk, although some may occasionally be  relocated due to construction projects or other goings-on..
Oscar
The first Academy Awards presentation took place in Hollywood at the Blossom  Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, located on Hollywood Boulevard.  Granted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the first  Academy Merit awards were given on May 16, 1929 to Wings, for what  was originally called "Best Production," and Sunrise, for "Best  Picture."
The other two awards of merit given that first year were to Emil Jannings  for his roles in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh,  for "Best Leading Actor," and to Janet Gaynor for her roles in Seventh  Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise, for "Best Leading  Actress."
Nicknamed "Oscar*," the gold-plated, britannium statuettes on a marble base, standing 13.5 inches high  and weighing 8.5 pounds, are currently presented at the Academy Awards ceremony in the Kodak Theatre, which opened in 2001, on the site where the historic Hollywood Hotel once stood.
Golden Age of Hollywood
From the end of the silent film era, about 1927, to around 1948, the  Hollywood movie studio system controlled what films were shown across the  country. Five major Hollywood-area studios owned large,  grand theaters where they would show only movies produced by their studios  and made with their contracted actors. These studios were Paramount, RKO,  20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and Warner Bros.