Theme Week Los Angeles – Hollywood

Saturday, 26 December 2015 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, Greater Los Angeles Area
Reading Time:  10 minutes

Universal Studios Globe © Pmlineditor/cc-by-sa-4.0

Universal Studios Globe © Pmlineditor/cc-by-sa-4.0

Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles. It is notable for its place as the home of the film industry, including several of its historic studios. Its name has come to be a metonym for the motion picture industry of the United States. Hollywood is also a highly ethnically diverse, densely populated, economically diverse neighborhood and retail business district. Hollywood was a small community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It officially merged with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, and soon thereafter a prominent film industry began to emerge, eventually becoming the most dominant and recognizable in the world. In 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera (Nopal field), named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished. The area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. There are differing opinions as to the true origin of the name “Hollywood.” According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the “Father of Hollywood”, on his honeymoon in 1886 he stood at the top of the hill looking out over the valley. Along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed. The Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, “I holly-wood”, meaning ‘hauling wood.’ HJ Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood. Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States. The name is also a reference to the Toyon, a native plant with bright red winter berries that resemble holly. Originally the name “Figwood” was to be used to name the area due to the surrounding number of fig trees. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley, president of the Los Pacific Boulevard and Development Company. Having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue / Hollywood Boulevard, which, still a dusty, unpaved road, was regularly graded and graveled. The hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitley’s company developed and sold one of the early residential areas, the Ocean View Tract. Whitley did much to promote the area. He paid thousands of dollars for electric lighting, including bringing electricity and building a bank, as well as a road into the Cahuenga Pass. The lighting ran for several blocks down Prospect Avenue. Whitley’s land was centered on Highland Avenue. His 1918 development, Whitley Heights, was named for him.

By 1912, major motion-picture companies had set up production near or in Los Angeles. In the early 1900s, most motion picture patents were held by Thomas Edison’s Motion Picture Patents Company in New Jersey, and filmmakers were often sued to stop their productions. To escape this, filmmakers began moving out west, where Edison’s patents could not be enforced. Also, the weather was ideal and there was quick access to various settings. Los Angeles became the capital of the film industry. Director D. W. Griffith was the first to make a motion picture in Hollywood. His 17-minute short film In Old California (1910) was filmed for the Biograph Company. Although Hollywood banned movie theaters—of which it had none—before annexation that year, Los Angeles had no such restriction. The first film by a Hollywood studio, Nestor Motion Picture Company, was shot on October 26, 1911. The Whitley home was used as its set, and the unnamed movie was filmed in the middle of their groves at the corner of Whitley Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard. The first studio in Hollywood, the Nestor Company, was established by the New Jersey–based Centaur Company in a roadhouse at 6121 Sunset Boulevard (the corner of Gower Street), in October 1911. Four major film companies – Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO, and Columbia – had studios in Hollywood, as did several minor companies and rental studios. In the 1920s, Hollywood was the fifth largest industry in the nation. Hollywood became known as Tinseltown and Movie Biz City because of the glittering image of the movie industry. Hollywood has since become a major center for film study in the United States. The name “Hollywood” is often applied to any film or TV production location within Greater Los Angeles, whether or not it is physically located within Hollywood. For example, from the time it relocated from New York in 1972 until its host retired in 1992, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was announced as being broadcast “from Hollywood” when in truth it originated from a studio facility in Burbank. Similarly, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer‘s storied film studio facility, associated with the Golden Age of Hollywood (and today known as Sony Pictures Studios) is actually located in Culver City, a number of miles from Hollywood. Today, only two of the six major film studios are actually based in Los Angeles, and only one of them, Paramount, is still located in Hollywood.

Grauman's Chinese Theater © Samantha Decker/cc-by-sa-3.0 The Four Ladies on Hollywood Boulevard © Yo shi/cc-by-sa-3.0 Universal Studios Globe © Pmlineditor/cc-by-sa-4.0 Walk of Fame © flickr.com - InSapphoWeTrust/cc-by-sa-2.0 Hollywood sign © flickr.com - raindog808/cc-by-2.0 Dolby Theatre, former Kodak Theatre © flickr.com - Adam Fagen/cc-by-sa-2.0 Dolby Theatre Mall © Andreas Praefcke/cc-by-3.0 Dolby Theatre Mall © Andreas Praefcke/cc-by-3.0 Hollywood Walk of Fame © David Iliff/cc-by-sa-3.0
<
>
Dolby Theatre, former Kodak Theatre © flickr.com - Adam Fagen/cc-by-sa-2.0
During the early 1950 the Hollywood Freeway was constructed through the northeast corner of Hollywood. The Capitol Records Building on Vine Street, just north of Hollywood Boulevard, was built in 1956, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame was created in 1958 as a tribute to artists and other significant contributors to the entertainment industry. The official opening was on February 8, 1960. The Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. In June 1999, the Hollywood extension of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail Red Line subway opened from Downtown Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley, with stops along Hollywood Boulevard at Western Avenue (Hollywood/Western Metro station), Vine Street (Hollywood/Vine Metro station), and Highland Avenue (Hollywood/Highland Metro station). The Dolby Theatre, which opened in 2001 as the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center mall, is the home of the Oscars. The mall is located where the historic Hollywood Hotel once stood. After years of serious decline in the 1980s, many Hollywood landmarks were threatened with demolition. Columbia Square, at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street, is part of the ongoing rebirth of Hollywood. The Art Deco-style studio complex completed in 1938, which was once the legendary Hollywood headquarters for CBS, became home to a new generation of popular broadcasters when cable television networks MTV, Comedy Central, BET and Spike TV consolidated their offices here in 2014 as part of a $420-million office, residential and retail complex. Since 2000, Hollywood has been increasingly gentrified due to revitalization by private enterprise and public planners.

KNX was the last radio station to broadcast from Hollywood, before it left CBS Columbia Square for a studio in the Miracle Mile in 2005. On January 22, 1947, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, KTLA, began operating in Hollywood. In December of that year, The Public Prosecutor became the first network television series to be filmed in Hollywood.Television stations KTLA and KCET, both on Sunset Boulevard, are the last broadcasters (television or radio) with Hollywood addresses, but KCET has since sold its studios on Sunset and plans to move to another location. KNBC moved in 1962 from the former NBC Radio City Studios at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street to NBC Studios in Burbank. KTTV moved in 1996 from its former home at Metromedia Square on Sunset Boulevard to West Los Angeles, and KCOP left its home on La Brea Avenue to join KTTV on the Fox lot. KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV moved from their longtime home at CBS Columbia Square on Sunset Boulevard to a new facility at CBS Studio Center in Studio City.

Here you can find the complete Overview of all Theme Weeks.

Read more on VisitWestHollywood.com, timeout.com – 23 Hollywood attractions you shouldn’t miss, latourist.com – Hollywood, hollywood.com – Best of Movies, TV, and Celebrities, The Hollywood Reporter, Wikivoyage Hollywood and Wikipedia Hollywood (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

Lüderitz in Namibia

Lüderitz in Namibia

[caption id="attachment_24654" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Lüderitz, seen from Nautilusberg (Mount Nautilus) © Peter Stenglein/cc-by-sa-2.5[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Lüderitz is a harbour town in south-west Namibia, lying on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island. The town is known for its colonial architecture, including some Art Nouveau work, and for wildlife including seals, penguins, flamingos and ostriches. It is also home to a museum, and lies at ...

[ read more ]

Anchorage in Alaska

Anchorage in Alaska

[caption id="attachment_152317" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Anchorage and Chugach Mountains © flickr.com - Frank K./cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost city in the United States with more than 100,000 residents and the largest community in North America north of the 60th parallel. With an estimated 299,000 residents, it is Alaska's most populous city and contains more than 40 percent of the state's tot...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Netherlands - Gouda, historic town in the green heart of the Netherlands

Theme Week Netherlands - Gouda, historic town in the green heart of the Netherlands

[caption id="attachment_160616" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Building at Market Square housing the tourist information © Afhaalchinees[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Gouda (population 71,000) is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. In the Middle Ages, a settlement was founded at the location of the current city by the Van der Goude family, who built a fortified castle alongside the banks of the Gouwe River, from which the family and the city took its name. The area, originally mar...

[ read more ]

Meaux in the Brie region

Meaux in the Brie region

[caption id="attachment_160979" align="aligncenter" width="590"] River boats in the foreground and St. Stephen's Cathedral in the background © Toine77/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Meaux is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris. It is located 41.1 km (25.5 mi) east-northeast from the center of Paris. With a population of 51,400 inhabitants, Meaux is the second most populated city in the Seine-et-Marne department after Chelles with 53,000 inhabitants. ...

[ read more ]

Bad Honnef, the Nice on the Rhine

Bad Honnef, the Nice on the Rhine

[caption id="attachment_160431" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Bad Honnef seen from Rolandseck © Leit[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Bad Honnef is a spa town in Germany near Bonn in the Rhein-Sieg district, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the border of the neighbouring state Rhineland-Palatinate. To the north it lies on the slopes of the Drachenfels ("Dragons's Rock") mountain, part of the Siebengebirge. Bad Honnef is home to a mineral spring called the Drachenquelle ("Dragon Spring") which was discovered in 1897....

[ read more ]

Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean

Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean

[caption id="attachment_226046" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Aldabra Giant Tortoise © Trisha M Shears[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll. It is situated in the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 km (700 mi) southwest of the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island. Aldabra atoll has, besides the four larger islands, some 40 smaller islands and rocks, all inside the lagoon, as well as a few very small i...

[ read more ]

Oʻahu in Hawaii

Oʻahu in Hawaii

[caption id="attachment_152267" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Pearl Harbor - USS Arizona Memorial © US Navy - Petty Officer 1st Class James E. Foehl[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Oʻahu, known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands; however, it is the most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii, and is the home of Honolulu International Airport. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oʻahu's southeast coast. Including small close-in offshore islands such as Ford Island and the islands in...

[ read more ]

Dunkerque in French Flanders

Dunkerque in French Flanders

[caption id="attachment_154375" align="aligncenter" width="415"] Town Hall © Martinp1[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Dunkirk is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the Belgian border. The population of the city at the 1999 census was 70,850 inhabitants (71,300 inhabitants as per February 2004 estimates). The population of the metropolitan area was 265,974 inhabitants as per the 1999 census. Dunkirk has the third-largest harbour in France, after those of Le Havre and Marsei...

[ read more ]

Potsdamer Platz in Berlin

Potsdamer Platz in Berlin

[caption id="attachment_163313" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Ansgar Koreng/cc-by-sa-3.0-de[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Potsdamer Platz (literally Potsdam Square) is an important public square and traffic intersection in the centre of Berlin, lying about 1 km (1,100 yd) south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament Building), and close to the southeast corner of the Tiergarten park. It is named after the city of Potsdam, some 25 km (16 mi) to the south west, and marks the point where the old road from Po...

[ read more ]

The first 5-star Marina on Germany's Baltic Sea coast!

The first 5-star Marina on Germany's Baltic Sea coast!

[caption id="attachment_152853" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © yachthafen-hohe-duene.de[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Yachthafen Hohe Düne offers 750 berths, half of which are available for visiting yachts. The marina is complemented by one of the most exclusive and impressive hotel complexes on the Baltic Sea, the Yachthafenresidenz Hohe Düne. Close at hand are ship builders, technicians, engine specialists, sailmakers and more. Along with the attractions of the hotel complex, including its diverse restaurants and spa, n...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top
Rocher de Monaco, with Palais de Monaco © Georges Jansoone/cc-by-3.0
The Prince’s Palace of Monaco

The Prince's Palace of Monaco is the official residence of the Prince of Monaco, located in Monaco-Ville. Built in 1191...

Tel Aviv © flickr.com - Smirnova Ksenia/cc-by-2.0
Theme Week Israel

Israel is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore...

Dock on Martha's Vineyard © flickr.com - m01229/cc-by-2.0
Martha’s Vineyard on the Atlantic

Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony. It...

Schließen