Historic Hollywood

CHAPTER III
H OLLYWOOD B ECOMES A B OOMTOWN
1921-1930
With the coming of the 1920s the motion picture industry began to dominate the town. Hundreds
of businesses were created to service the film studios. Thousands of people arrived to work at the
studios and tourists arrived to visit the filmmaking capital of the world. With this strong economic
activity in the Hollywood area came more development of hotels, businesses, restaurants and
housing. More film companies were formed and new studios built. During this time such companies
as Columbia Pictures, United Artists and many minor companies located in Hollywood proper.
During the ten years of progress in development, Hollywood sprouted a skyline of new office
buildings, apartment houses, hotels and theatres many with their own unique architectural style. In
1923 developers created Hollywoodland in the Beachwood Canyon district in the foothills. They
erected a large Hollywoodland sign atop Mount Lee, which could be seen for miles. This same
advertising sign would later become the symbol of Hollywood that still exists today.
Famed landmarks were built on Hollywood Boulevard such as the Egyptian Theater in 1922, the
El Capitan Theater in 1926, the Chinese Theater in 1927 and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel also
in 1927 and the last of Hollywood’s great movie palaces, the Pantages, was opened in June
1930. Work was started in August of 1923 for a dam to insure more water for a growing population
in the Weid Canyon section of the Hollywood hills. When the dam was completed in 1925,
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The Hollywood Brown Derby opened
in 1929 at 1628 North Vine Street
and became the most famous
Hollywood eatery in the world.
Celebrities and employees of the
nearby movie, radio and television
studios regularly patronized the
Derby. Fans would eagerly wait
outside for their favorite stars who
dined at this Hollywood landmark
until its closing in 1985 and its
demolition in 1994.
Chapter III ✦ 15