Drawing of the first map of Hollywood, issued by real estate agent H.H. Wilcox in 1887. Image via Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection.
With the welcoming of a new month, we are also celebrating the 125th birthday of Tinseltown. On February 1, 1887, Harvey Wilcox officially registered Hollywood with the Los Angeles County recorder's office.
Ironically, Wilcox, a Kansas man who'd made his fortune in real estate, "envisioned the land as the perfect site for a utopian-like community for devout Christians, where they could live a highly moral life free of vices such as alcohol," according to History.com. Wilcox's wife, Daeida, "called the new community 'Hollywood,' borrowing the name from a Chicago friend who told her that was the name of a summer home she had in the Midwest." So there you have it. Hollywood was named after a Midwest summer home.
Hollywood Boulevard was originally dubbed Prospect Avenue, and we think its current name is more appropriate, don't you? Wilcox laid out a map of the land, which he filed with the recorder's office, complete with dirt streets lined with pepper trees. By 1900, Hollywood boasted a population of 500. At the time, L.A.'s population had reached 100,000.
Today, Hollywood is more so a utopia for industry devotees, porn fanatics and tourists. However, the land does offer a bevy of choices for fine dining, casual and swanky imbibing joints, stellar hiking and prime celebrity spotting. And of course, it is the historical center of the film industry and the metonym for American cinema.
Happy birthday, Hollywood! You've made it.
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