When people think of movies, one word comes to mind almost instantly, and that is Hollywood. It is not just a movie place. It is a symbol of fame, creativity, and the global film industry for no doubt. But have you ever wondered why the name Hollywood came in the first place? And the story of how this name came to be is quite interesting and goes back more than a century.
The Story Behind the World’s Movie Capital
Before it became famous and even known to the world, Hollywood was just a small farming community. In the late 1800s, the area now known as Hollywood now, was filled with fig orchards and wheat fields around. It was located near Los Angeles, California. The climate was warm, the land was fertile, and people began settling there for farming initially.
A man named Harvey Wilcox played a major and important role in naming that particular area. Actually Mr. Harvey was a real estate developer from Kansas. In 1886, he moved to California with his wife, Daeida Wilcox, and bought 120 acres of land west of Los Angeles (Today in California 1 acre may cost around millions). He had a vision of creating a peaceful and religious community. He divided the land into plots and began selling them to others.
The Name “Hollywood” Is Born
The name “Hollywood” was first suggested by Daeida Wilcox wife of Mr. Harvey. During a train trip to Ohio, Daeida met a woman who mentioned her summer home in a place called Hollywood, Illinois. Daeida liked how the name sounded—and it also felt magical and full of charm to hear. When she returned home, she convinced her husband to name their new community as The “Hollywood”.
In 1887, the name was officially recorded when Harvey Wilcox filed plans for the new town to move on. That was how the name Hollywood began at the initial stage.
Growth and the Arrival of the Film Industry in Hollywood
At first, Hollywood was just a quiet village with lots of farmings. But everything changed in the early 1900s. The American film industry was growing rapidly, and at the same time filmmakers were looking for new locations to shoot their movies. New York had been the original center of film production, but it had limitations at that time.
But at this time California offered something better—plenty of sunshine, a wide variety of landscapes, and fewer restrictions from patent laws that controlled filmmaking in the East. Obviously filmmakers began to move west, and soon, the first film studio in Hollywood was built by the Nestor Company in 1911. It was literally 114 years back.
Hollywood’s real transformation began in 1913, when more studios arrived to California. The perfect weather allowed directors to shoot outdoors throughout the year. Within a few years, major film studios like Paramount, Warner Bros., and Universal set up their headquarters in or around Hollywood.
Hollywood Becomes a Symbol of Film Industry
As more films were produced, Hollywood became the heart of the American movie industry. People all over the world saw the name in movie credits and on posters. It quickly became associated with glamour, stardom, and entertainment which loved by the global film makers.
In 1923, the famous Hollywood sign was put up on the hills overlooking the town. It was originally an advertisement for a housing development called “Hollywoodland.” Later, the sign was shortened to just “Hollywood,” and it became a global icon till date. So if you Ever Wondered Why the Name Hollywood? And this article should cleared your doubts.
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