THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN HAS LONG CAPTURED the imagination of the world. Many know its origins as a real estate development, but no one has before pieced together the full history of the sign, its decay and dilapadation in midcentury, and its reconstruction by the likes of Hugh Hefner and Alice Cooper. Here Leo Braudy gives a tantalizing glimpse into the stuff of his book, The Hollywood Sign: Fantasy and Reality of an American Icon (Yale University Press, 2011)
LARB Contributor
Tom Lutz is the editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Review of Books. His latest book is Born Slippy: A Novel.
For more, go to tomlutzwriter.comLARB Staff Recommendations
The Birth of the Cool: Leo Braudy's Memoir of the 1950s
A memoir of the 1950s, looking out, not in.
Deanne Stillman, "Desert Reckoning"
An interview with Deanne Stillman, author of Desert Reckoning
Did you know LARB is a reader-supported nonprofit?
LARB publishes daily without a paywall as part of our mission to make rigorous, incisive, and engaging writing on every aspect of literature, culture, and the arts freely accessible to the public. Help us continue this work with your tax-deductible donation today!