All about Hollywood

Today much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as Burbank and the Westside, but significant ancillary industries (such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies) remain in Hollywood.

Many historic Hollywood theatres are used as venues to premiere major theatrical releases, and host the Academy Awards. It is a popular destination for nightlife and tourism, and home to the Walk of Fame.

The population of the district is estimated to be about 300,000. As a portion of the City of Los Angeles, Hollywood does not have its own municipal government, but does have an appointed official that serves as “honorary mayor” for ceremonial purposes only.

In 1853, one adobe hut stood on the site that became Hollywood. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished in the area with thriving crops. In the 1880s, Harvey Henderson Wilcox of Kansas, who made a fortune in real estate even though he had lost the use of his legs due to typhoid fever, and his wife, Daeida, moved to Los Angeles from Topeka. In 1886, Wilcox bought 160 acres of land in the countryside to the west of the city at the foothills and the Cahuenga Pass.

Accounts of the name, Hollywood, coming from imported English holly then growing in the area are incorrect. The name in fact was coined by Hobart Johnstone Whitley, the Father of Hollywood. He and his wife Gigi came up with the name in 1886 while on their honeymoon.

They were standing on the hill overlooking the valley which is now Whitley Heights. It is part of the California Historic Preservation Overlay Zone.

With a hand shake a deal was secured to purchase 500 acres from Mr Hurd whom they share the name of their new town.

Over the years Whitley had established more than 140 towns (from Margaret Virginia Whitley’s memoir).

A locally popular etymology is that the name Hollywood traces to the ample stands of native Toyon, or “California Holly,” that cover the hillsides with clusters of bright red berries each winter.