120 Years of Hollywood

By 1900, Hollywood had a population of 500 - a post office, a newspaper, a hotel, and two markets. In neighboring Los Angeles, through seven miles of orange groves, the population had reached 100,000. In the early 1900s, filmmakers began moving to the Los Angeles area to get away from the strict rules imposed by Thomas Edison’s Motion Picture Patents Company in New Jersey. Since most of the moviemaking patents were owned by Edison, independent filmmakers were often sued by Edison to stop their productions. To escape Edison’s control, and because of the ideal weather conditions and varied terrain, moviemakers began to arrive in Los Angeles to make their films. The very first motion picture studio was built in 1919, in nearby Edendale, just east of Hollywood, by Selig Polyscope Company. In 1923, the famous Hollywood sign was erected near the top of Mount Lee as “Hollywoodland” to advertise housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.