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The Hollywood sign debuted 100 years ago
- wogaf 4y ago[flagged]
- echelon 4y agoVery few industries have such an iconic name and emblem as Hollywood. The music industry doesn't. If I were to ask you to name the city, place, or thing most associated with music, I'd get different answers. Fashion, too. Sports. Wine. No Hollywood. Silicon Valley is a good comparison, but when you think of software, it's shifted to the Bay Area and other places. It's not the same magnitude of definitive. Hollywood is truly the dictionary definition, gold standard, 1:1 moniker.
- wogaf 4y ago[flagged]
- serf 4y ago> It's trivial, a mere signpost on a hill. many culturally significant things are like that -- valueless aside from some mythos or story that provides the value from somewhere other than worldy presence. The sign is trivial, but it symbolizes a lot of the same things that Hollywood itself has come to symbolize for many years. 'Going out to California to make it big' has been one of the slices of American Dream for a very long time. The Hollywood sign is one of the things that has become associated with that idea, among others; and that's ignoring the international impact that Hollywood has had on the world in the past, even if the strangehold on the worlds' cinema culture is no longer as tightly held, as you mention. > Depends where you are in the world. I'd argue that even elsewhere in the world, 'Hollywood' would be a likely answer from those asked, but few if any people in Mumbai, for example, will make a mention of Pinewood.
- wogaf 4y ago[flagged]
- andsoitis 4y agoHollywood is not only the oldest film industry in the world, it is also first in revenue. I bet that people around the world know about Hollywood and the top actors just like they know Coke everywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_industry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_industry
- nopenotthat 4y agoYour own link refutes you. The oldest is the French film industry (Gaumont still exists & is the oldest studio still in operation), closely followed by the British film industry (notably Ealing Studios, still the oldest continuously working film facility too). Hell, the earliest American film industry was in Brooklyn. Hollywood happened initially due to it fleeing to the west coast to avoid patents (ironically) and later the cheaper land.
- shp0ngle 4y agoYeah I find it ironic that the biggest proponents of what’s now called “intellectual property” are based where are they based, because they escaped high patents costs.
- arrrg 4y agoThat seems like a weird assertion. I really wouldn’t downplay US worldwide cultural domination, whether you like that or not. Especially since you are setting a very low bar here: merely having heard of Hollywood. Don’t confuse what you might wish for with reality.
- Uehreka 4y ago…seriously? So I lived abroad for multiple years in Thailand. Learned the language, had conversations with people who had never met a foreigner, traveled to numerous surrounding countries. I’ve been to Europe multiple times and stayed with local friends of mine and met their friends. All this not to mention the number of people from around the world I’ve met at hostels and through activities like scuba diving. People are fucking obsessed with Hollywood. For some people it’s a singular cultural reference point they ascribe to the entire country. When my Thai students were looking into studying abroad, their first questions about a location were about whether it was within traveling distance of NYC or Hollywood. I’ve seen people meet an American who has never even been to California and then jokingly refer to them as “Mr. Hollywood over here!” (And yes, I know that they know all of America isn’t literally Hollywood). Like, I can understand not liking the amount of American media hegemony that goes on in global culture, that totally makes sense. But it’s definitely a thing.
- broast 4y agoIgnoring that the film industry in India is popularly called Bollywood, in honor of Hollywood.
- wogaf 4y agoIt's nicknamed "Bollywood" by people in the US. In India, it's referred to as "बॉलीवुड".
- nopenotthat 4y agoThat is literally pronounced “boleevud”. Can you guess why? "Bollywood" was invented & popularized in Bombay-based film trade journals in the 1960s & 1970s. It was an explicit reference *by the Indian film industry there to Hollywood. It was additionally a play on “Tollywood" for the Tollygunge-based cinema of West Bengal, which had been called that since the 30s.
- mixmastamyk 4y ago> a mere signpost on a hill. I tend to think the same due to growing up in the area. It’s like a freeway sign to me. After giving the hundredth tourist from around the world directions to get there… I thought hmm, people really like this mere sign.
- qqtt 4y agoYou'd probably get different answers for which city is associated with film, just like you'd get different answers for music. Lots of locations have risen up over the years, including Vancouver, and New York (which itself alone has about 1/3rd the productions of LA). Lots of the major production companies have actually moved out of Hollywood itself, and are scattered around Los Angeles (and the broader US). Hollywood as a term has evolved a bit to just mean anything associated with the USA film industry, including Netflix, which itself has very little to do with traditional "Hollywood" beyond using some studios in California. "Hollywood" is a gold standard, like "the Rolls Royce of X" is a phrase - it has captured the brand of movies, but it's current state today like you say is very similar to Silicon Valley - a name mostly (and it's used in a similar way, 'Silicon Valley North' for Canada, 'Silicon Alley' for New York, 'Silicon Beach' for Los Angeles, etc.). Edit: Just checked and the production volume ratio between LA and New York is similar to the # of unicorns ratio between Silicon Valley and the next highest city. Really interesting comparison, as Silicon Valley has spread to the greater bay area and Hollywood film production has spread to the greater LA area as well.
- kingkawn 4y agoabsolutely nobody would debate whether Hollywood or Vancouver was the center of film making
- qqtt 4y agoI agree, but generally if you were to ask to name 'some cities associated with film' it's reasonable to get multiple these days - if you had to choose only one you'd get Hollywood. I don't think that's very far removed from naming one city associated with tech (Silicon Valley) versus names a few cities associated with tech (which you can easily do, just the same).
- asdff 4y agoHollywood is also massive for the music industry though. It would be hard to find an artist over the past 100 years who didn't record a big track at a hollywood recording studio.
- komali2 4y agoMan some people just care about different stuff than you do
- droptablemain 4y agohttps://archive.is/CQkwS https://archive.is/CQkwS
- scoofy 4y agoPeople need to remember the Hollywood sign was for a housing development at the edge of town in Los Angeles. That's how long it's been, and we've added almost no density, and eternal sprawl.
- dylan604 4y agoThat sign doesn't seem like a very comfy home for people to live in, so no wonder it didn't do well as a housing development. That was a very bad design from an architect if they thought people were going to live there.
- nocsi 4y agoThe rest of this century is dedicated to undoing the zoning practices of a certain generation.
- lotsoweiners 4y agoYou’re assuming their kids don’t want the same things. My parents are off the “certain generation” and I am very happy with the zoning as it is. My peers share this mentality.
- twblalock 4y agoMillennials are entering the home buying market in large numbers now, and it turns out they want detached single family homes in quiet suburban neighborhoods, just like everyone else. It is important to be very clear about this because the HN crowd seems to have a massive over-representation of people who like dense living arrangements: the vast majority of Americans want to live in a detached home that they own, and they want to transport themselves in cars that they own. They don't want to live in apartments, they don't want to rent, and they don't like mass transit. There are indeed some Americans who want to live in places like Manhattan, but they are a small minority. A large majority of the Americans who currently live in apartments only do so because they cannot afford a detached home.
- kaetemi 4y ago
- cocacola1 4y agoI'm glad they dropped the "land" part. "Hollywoodland" doesn't have the same ring that Hollywood has.
- dylan604 4y agoIt's like dropping the word "the"
- lapcat 4y agoI'll always think of it as "Hollywoo" https://bojackhorseman.fandom.com/wiki/Our_A-Story_is_a_%22D%22_Story https://bojackhorseman.fandom.com/wiki/Our_A-Story_is_a_%22D...
- sircastor 4y agoAlways makes me think of “The Rocketeer”. That probably pins me to a particular generation.
- W-Stool 4y agoI've had some business in Los Angeles over the years - not much, but I got there off and on. Depending on the airport you're flying into, depending on the landing approach your plane takes, and depending on what side of the plane you're seated on, the sign can come into view and it is quite large in the distance. I don't think I ever got over the thrill of seeing it - it is just so iconic - I really don't have the words to describe it.
- Fatnino 4y agoIt's more or less directly north of where the LAX traffic pattern makes the U-turn to line up final approach. So the right side of the plane can always catch a glimpse of the sign, but the left side coming from anywhere north-ish will have a closer view. If you're coming from south or east you won't make that turn and left side won't see it at all.
- graaben 4y agoI'm lucky to be able to see it from my apartment living room window, and even after 3 years it never gets old!
- mixmastamyk 4y agoJust took a long hike up to Mt. Hollywood on Saturday, next to Mt. Lee. So it was on my mind thanks.
- paulette449 4y agoNot the only Hollywood, and not the only Hollywood sign [1], thanks to some Irish humor. [1] - https://www.thejournal.ie/hollywood-sign-wicklow-3867190-Feb2018/ https://www.thejournal.ie/hollywood-sign-wicklow-3867190-Feb...
- EZ-Cheeze 4y agoIn GTA Online, you can reliably win the "Open your parachute closest to the ground" challenge by jumping off the top of one of the letters of the Vinewood sign and immediately opening your chute as soon as you have left the platform at the top of the letter.
- animal_spirits 4y agoIf anyone hasn't watched the documentary 'Cadillac Desert' on the importance of water in the history and development of the United States Southwest, then I would highly recommend putting it on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR2BSGQt2DU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR2BSGQt2DU
- foobarbecue 4y agoIs it based on the book?
- animal_spirits 4y agoYep! The author makes a few appearances in the documentary
- scns 4y agoIt was in a bad shape when Hugh Heffner moved to LA, he started a campaign to get it restored IIRC. He did a lot civil rights and ending segregation too. The southern TV stations objected to him showing black entertainers and talking to them in his TV show, he stood by his values. And he gave a voice to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X in Playboy. Source: the documentary about him on Amazon Prime, highly recommended.
- afavour 4y agoAlso an interesting watch is the A&E documentary about the dark side of Hefner and Playboy: https://www.aetv.com/shows/secrets-of-playboy https://www.aetv.com/shows/secrets-of-playboy It’s 12 parts and honestly could have easily been 10 if not less but it’s always worth exploring the duality of the man. No denying his social progressivism but he definitely wasn’t all shining light and I’m suspicious of anything that paints him as if he were.
- Mountain_Skies 4y agoHis social progressiveness might have been more about wanting to get rid of morality laws in general, because they were getting in the way of his business expansion, than a genuine belief in those causes. Probably a mix of the two, even if he started out pushing for business reasons, getting involved in any cause gives one an opportunity to hear that group's point of view and a chance to become sympathetic to it. Either way, it ended being good for his fame and fortune.
- scns 4y agoThanks for the tip. Thats why i love this site so much. You can get a very differentiated picture here.
- micromacrofoot 4y agoUnfortunately he was also a serial rapist, though I don't think anyone's surprised about that one.
- sevenf0ur 4y agoIf anyone visits LA I recommend hiking to the sign. The trail goes right behind the sign and the view is amazing on both sides.
- jdulay19 4y agoHollywoo *
- niyikiza 4y agoI wonder if its celebrities know things
- peter303 4y agoI remember hiking up to the base of letters in the early 1990s. I think there is a substantial fence now.