Hollywoodland celebrates 75 years of park land gift
LARCHMONT shares a history with Hollywoodland dating back to 1923.
Photo by Lynn Shepodd
Seventy-five years ago the Sherman Company gifted 444 acres of open-space land in northern Beachwood Canyon to the City of Los Angeles. This tract of parkland includes the historic Hollywood Sign, which was created to advertise the lots in Tract 6450 for Hollywoodland, Southern California’s first planned hillside residential community.
Residents held a celebration honoring the 75th anniversary Oct. 20 of the largest local park land donation (other than the Griffith Land donation).
The celebration allowed Angelenos to share their inspirations and expressions through a multimedia art exhibition.
Anne Mansour, a resident of Larchmont Village, shared the 1st prize in the painting competition with Brian Burchfield of Hollywoodland.
Best of Show went to George Abbott Clark for his video Hollywoodland Wild Life, showing a compilation of animal images filmed at his hillside residence including star mountain lion Bachelor P-22, reminding us how invaluable our undeveloped land is.
Developed in 1923, Hollywoodland Tract 6450 includes 560 single-family residential homes, a charming neighborhood and a horse ranch found at the top of Beachwood Drive (Sunset Stables).
There has always been a relationship between Larchmont Village and Hollywoodland, as lots in Tract 6450 were sold on Larchmont Boulevard, possibly through the Western Construction Company located at 127 N. Larchmont Blvd. Sidney Woodruff and L.P. Lechner jointly managed Western Construction Company and went on to become principal players in Hollywoodland.
Hollywoodland Realty, built in 1923, was the first building erected in Tract 6450. It continues to operate as a real estate office to this day, with two locations. One in Larchmont and the original in Hollywoodland.
Visit hollywoodlandgiftedpark.com.
By Patricia Carroll and Christine O’Brien
Category: Real Estate
