Look Up, Hollywood! A Walking Tour of Hollywood, California
By Doug Gelbert
()
About this ebook
There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a downloadable walking tour from walkthetown.com is ready to explore when you are.
Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on American streets.
The “father” and “mother” of Hollywood were Hobart Johnstone Whitley and Daeida Wilcox Beveridge. Whitley bought the 500-acre E.C. Hurd ranch in the 1880s which he called “Hollywood” from a name the Whitleys had discovered on their honeymoon. Before that the area was know to the scattered ranchers and fruit growers here as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north.
Harvey Henderson Wilcox was born in New York state in 1832 and his family migrated to Michigan when he was a teen. As an adult he kicked around the Midwest cobbling shoes and trading real estate. In his fifties, after his first wife died in Kansas of tuberculosis, Wilcox married Daeida “Ida” Hartell, a girl more than thirty years his junior and relocated his ranch to southern California, purchasing land for $150 an acre. Wilcox tried farming figs like his neighbors but after a few years he decided to subdivide the land and sell lots for $1,000 each. Ida borrowed her neighbor’s name, which she may have first heard from a seatmate on a train ride from Kansas - or not, and on February 1, 1887 Harvey Wilcox filed a plat of the subdivision with the Los Angeles County Recorder’s office, the first time “Hollywood” appeared on a deed.
Wilcox died in 1891 but his wife led development efforts and was instrumental in establishing much of Hollywood’s civic infrastructure, including the city hall, library, police station, primary school, tennis club, post office, city park, and much of the commercial district. She also donated land for three churches and space for Hollywood’s first theatrical productions. She came to be called the “Mother of Hollywood,” and when Daeida died in 1914, the Los Angeles Times reported that it was Daeida’s dream of beauty that gave world fame to Hollywood.
To the world today Hollywood means movies. The early years of the movie industry were centered around New York City but Thomas Edison’s film patent fees helped send the pioneering studios west. Most didn’t stop until they reached the favorable year-round weather of Southern California. Short films were being made here by 1906 and by 1911 Los Angeles was second only to New York in motion picture production and by 1915 most movies were being made here. Four major film companies – Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO and Columbia – had studios clustered in Hollywood as the formerly somnambulant suburb skyrocketed to international stardom.
In 1910, when the development was mostly fields of grain and citrus trees town officials voted for Hollywood to be annexed into the City of Los Angeles to insure a reliable supply ofwater. In a handful of years that community was unrecognizable. After the movie companies came radio studios then set up shop in Hollywood in the 1930s, television studios in the 1940s and recording studios in the 1950s. Most have since dispersed to neighboring communities, leaving behind more iconic landmarks than any community of similar size and we’ll begin our tour at the most famous intersection in the world...
Read more from Doug Gelbert
Look Up, San Diego! A Walking Tour of Balboa Park Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5A Walking Tour of Aiken, South Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Miami Beach, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of The New Orleans French Quarter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Williamsburg, Virginia Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Look Up, Phoenix, Arizona! A Walking Tour of Phoenix, Arizona Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Tucson, Arizona! A Walking Tour of Tucson, Arizona Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Greensboro, North Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Savannah! A Walking Tour of Savannah, Georgia Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Walking Tour of A Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Tampa, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of New York City's Financial District Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Beaufort, South Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Meadville, Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Bordentown, New Jersey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Jacksonville, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Gettysburg! A Walking Tour of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Oakland! A Walking Tour of Oakland, California Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Toledo! A Walking Tour of Toledo, Ohio Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of St. Augustine, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of New York City's Upper East Side Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of New York City's Upper West Side Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Look Up, Long Beach! A Walking Tour of Long Beach, California Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Charleston! A Walking Tour of Charleston, South Carolina: The Battery Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A Walking Tour of Georgetown, South Carolina Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Look Up, Chicago! A Walking Tour of The Loop (North End) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Pittsburgh's Business District Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Madison! A Walking Tour of Madison, Wisconsin Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Look Up, Boise! A Walking Tour of Boise, Idaho Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Staunton, Virginia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Look Up, Hollywood! A Walking Tour of Hollywood, California
Related ebooks
Home of Peace Memorial Park: The Unauthorized Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWicked Cleveland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForest Lawn Hollywood Hills: The Unauthorized Guide Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5New Bedford Mansions: Historic Tales of County Street Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGravesend, Brooklyn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Fly on the Page Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAris A K-9 Hero's Life Before, During & After 9/11 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClarke County Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Valhalla Memorial Park: The Unauthorized Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLoretta and Me Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRock and Roll Meltdown: The Circus Nightclub Story 1979 – 1983 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5101 Amazing Robbie Williams Facts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSinatra Style Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Years With Capone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMorgan County Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brooklyn's Scarlett: Susan Hayward: Fire in the Wind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKilling For Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBuffalo Bill's British Wild West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memoirs of a Broken Hearted Girl Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Different Valor: The Story of General Joseph E. Johnston, C.S.A. Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Remembering Fishkill Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Famedroppings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPink A Short Unauthorized Biography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI'm Hosting as Fast as I Can!: Zen and the Art of Staying Sane in Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wisconsin Army National Guard Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUntimely Deaths by Assassination Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American-British Artist Benjamin West: A Short Biography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRaisin' Cane in Appalachia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlind Alley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States History For You
A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5U.S. History 101: Historic Events, Key People, Important Locations, and More! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just Kids: A National Book Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White Album: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Mob: The Fight Against Organized Crime in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Look Up, Hollywood! A Walking Tour of Hollywood, California
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Look Up, Hollywood! A Walking Tour of Hollywood, California - Doug Gelbert
A Walking Tour of Hollywood, California
a walking tour in the Look Up, America series from walkthetown.com
by Doug Gelbert
published by Cruden Bay Books at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 by Cruden Bay Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the Publisher.
The father
and mother
of Hollywood were Hobart Johnstone Whitley and Daeida Wilcox Beveridge. Whitley bought the 500-acre E.C. Hurd ranch in the 1880s which he called Hollywood
from a name the Whitleys had discovered on their honeymoon. Before that the area was know to the scattered ranchers and fruit growers here as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north.
Harvey Henderson Wilcox was born in New York state in 1832 and his family migrated to Michigan when he was a teen. As an adult he kicked around the Midwest cobbling shoes and trading real estate. In his fifties, after his first wife died in Kansas of tuberculosis, Wilcox married Daeida Ida
Hartell, a girl more than thirty years his junior and relocated his ranch to southern California, purchasing land for $150 an acre. Wilcox tried farming figs like his neighbors but after a few years he decided to subdivide the land and sell lots for $1,000 each. Ida borrowed her neighbor’s name, which she may have first heard from a seatmate on a train ride from Kansas - or not, and on February 1, 1887 Harvey Wilcox filed a plat of the subdivision with the Los Angeles County Recorder’s office, the first time Hollywood
appeared on a deed.
Wilcox died in 1891 but his wife led development efforts and was instrumental in establishing much of Hollywood’s civic infrastructure, including the city hall, library, police station, primary school, tennis club, post office, city park, and much of the commercial district. She also donated land for three churches and space for Hollywood’s first theatrical productions. She came to be called the Mother of Hollywood,
and when Daeida died in 1914, the Los Angeles Times reported that it was Daeida’s dream of beauty that gave world fame to Hollywood.
To the world today Hollywood means movies. The early years of the movie industry were centered around New York City but Thomas Edison’s film patent fees helped send the pioneering studios west. Most