There are a million stories of those who went searching for fame in Tinsel Town guided by a hundred years of that Hollywood sign.
Since LA publisher Harry Chandler put it up as a billboard.
For his property development Hollywoodland.
The great and the good and the not so good have all played their part.
In the life of the sign over the last 100 years.
Hefner’s Hollywood
With Hugh Hefner in particular getting his mucky fingerprints on it.
Hefner it was who stumped up his ill-gotten money to save the sign at least twice.
While celebrities of the time including Angels baseball team Gene Autrey ‘The Singing Cowboy’, Andy Williams and Alice Cooper stumped up.
To own individual letters.
Hefner’s hold over Playboy is of course a thing of the past.
As you can see in the excellent Secrets of the Playboy Mansion.
But his hold over Marilyn Monroe, his first and unwilling cover girl is permanent to this day.
At the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles where he bought his funeral lot next to hers.
So they could be with each other for eternity.
My LA story
Such tales I lapped up, of course, in my LA story when I sought out fame and fun there.
But alas the Hollywood sign remained out of reach.
When my random act of kindness rebounded on me on the plane over.
When I took a sick bag from the passenger next to me.
And inhaled whatever virus she had and was later struck down with a 24-hour bug.
All of which meant I missed out on the hike up to the Griffith Observatory.
Where you’ll get a great view to the sign.
Hey ho, I did get to see Marilyn up on the Walk of Fame.
On walls up at Venice Beach and in her final resting place.
And I’ll hopefully be back to retrace my steps, and maybe too with my own blonde bombshell.
Hooray for the Hundred
In the meantime I’ll share all the hoopla over the year right up to the December centenary.
All to mark a hundred years of that Hollywood sign.
