How did Hollywood get its name?

Senior Moments

According to Brewers, it is said that the name was given in 1887 by the community's developers Mr and Mrs Wilcox who doubtless adopted it from another place so called. Nov 18 01, 12:04 AM

Son of The Household Cavalry

Back in the early 1980's the Chamber of Commerce of Hollywood California wanted to copyright the name Hollywood. This upset many people that had been using the name Hollywood for years. Perhaps upset the most was the city of Hollywood, Florida, which filed a law suit to protect their use of the name. Because of the law suit, some historical research needed to be done. It was found that the section of Los Angeles known as Hollywood got its name from a nineteenth century estate of the same name in the area. As the story goes, the woman who owned the land was on a west bound train going to visit her land for the first time. Her seat mate, a woman by the name of Mrs. Peck, also owned large tracts of land, but her land was mostly along the Burlington Railway just west of Chicago. The lady with the California land expressed a desire to find a name for her new estate. Therefor, Mrs. Peck mentioned that she owned a large track of land near what is now Brookfield Zoo, and she called her land Hollywood. It seems the lady with the California land thought Hollywood would also be a good name for her estate. As far as Mrs. Peck and Western Springs are concerned, if you trace back to nineteenth century property records, you will find much of the land in Western Springs located near the railroad tracks, has the Peck family name mentioned quite often. Finally, as you may have guessed, the Chamber of Commerce of Hollywood, California lost the law suit. Nov 18 01, 12:13 AM

Senior Moments

Found a website that ties the two answers together: http://www.joesabah.com/dseibert/003.htm Hollywood got its name in 1887 thanks to Daeida Wilcox, whose husband Harvey, of Kansas, owned the land. Hollywood was the name of the summer home of a woman Mrs. Wilcox had sat beside on a train, and she liked the sound of it. (Jeff Rovin, The Unbelievable Truth! , p. 114) Nov 18 01, 12:16 AM

Son of The Household Cavalry

But what about -- The toyon, a large shrub or small tree in the rose family, is found in our region primarily in chaparral and coastal sage scrub communities. Flowers of the toyon appear in large panicles of creamy-white around June and give off a spicy odor; they are very attractive to bees. The leaves are evergreen, leathery and have serrate edges. The large clusters of bright red fruit begin to show color around the middle of October and often remain on the bushes well past New Year's, assuming they have not all been eaten by birds--especially Cedar Waxwings. California Indians and early settlers consumed the fruit in a drink as well as drying, roasting, and grinding them into a meal. It is believed by some that the city of Hollywood got its name from the abundance of toyon shrubs in the area. The berries were so popular for use in Christmas decorations that a law was passed in the 1920s making it illegal to pick the branches. It is one of the best native California shrubs to use for home landscaping. http://www.sdnhm.org/valentien/toyon.html Nov 18 01, 12:22 AM

Senior Moments

Okay I have found a similar one to that: Heteromeles arbutifolia-Toyon-Christmas Berry- evergreen shrub to small tree, red berries at Xmas time, good background plant, grows best in grouping of associated plants, Hollywood got its name from this plant. Nov 18 01, 12:24 AM

billfay

No one has said anything about the name originally was Hollywoodland. It seems the big sign we all know was taken care of or deteriorated and the last four letters fell so it was left as Hollywood. Nov 18 01, 12:51 AM

Brainy Blonde

That's the first thing that came to my mind as well, billfay. Hollywood was originally called Hollywoodland after a subdivision built under the sign before the last four letters fell down. The sign was built as a promotional tool. The following is a cut and paste: Hollywood Sign -- One of the most recognizable images in our country and around the world, this landmark sits high atop the hills above Hollywood. It was originally constructed to promote a housing development at the base of the hill called 'Hollywoodland,' and that's just what the sign read. It was declared a historical landmark in 1973, but since it was not built to last, it was in need of significant repair. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce spearheaded an effort to raise the money to fix the sign. Groups and individuals made pledges to have a letter of the sign repaired. Among those who have $27,000 per letter of the Hollywood Sign were Hugh Hefner, Alice Cooper, and Gene Autry. http://www.hollywoodcoc.org/visitorinfo/index.html#sign Since Hollywood was named after the subdivision, the real question is, how did the Holywoodland subdivision get its name? Nov 18 01, 4:27 PM

Kozmoe

If Hollywood was indeed named in the 1800's, there's no way it got its name from the Hollywoodland sign, as the sign and the real estate development it was advertising didn't exist until around 1923, I believe. It wasn't even until 1949, if I remember correctly, that the "land" was dropped and the sign read as it does today. Apr 30 08, 8:00 AM

ElleHollywood

The Hollywood name came from my family who were gold-diggers from the Netherlands. They moved from West California to a small town in Wyoming, called Thermopolis. It's a town with natural hot springs. After they moved there, the Wilcox's were so impressed by this small but wealthy family, but all she could remember was the lady's last name - Hollywood. My family owned pretty much all of downtown Thermopolis. They sold the property and willed that when the great-great-niece turned 21 the money could then be divided. That was my Aunt. My Grandmother still receives royalties to this day. Jul 17 09, 10:39 AM

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