Hollywood Sign Truth and Fiction, Part I
For a monument popularly known as "our Eiffel Tower," the Hollywood Sign is the object of a surprising amount of misinformation, as well as outright lies. The Internet, of course, has been a great transmitter of these untruths. I'm not just talking about random erroneous posts, such as some of those by viewers of my YouTube channel, but official sources. For example, Chris Baumgart, Chairman of the Hollywood Sign Trust, told me in our 2006 interview that the current Hollywood Sign was a replica of the old one in every aspect but one--the height of the letters, which he said were five feet shorter than the originals. Though it sounded logical, it wasn't true. My later interview with Raiden Peterson, who supervised the Sign's reconstruction for Pacific Outdoor Electric, confirmed that the new letters were exact replicas of the old, standing 45 feet. "I measured every piece," Peterson said.
For the rest of this article, please see my new eBook, "Peg Entwistle and The Hollywood Sign," which will be available from online booksellers in September 2013. Related articles:
http://underthehollywoodsign.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/the-nighttime-magnetism-of-the-hollywood-sign/