Do you know who created Hollywood? You will be shocked to know that Tinseltown, which has climbed to fame for good and bad reasons, was once considered a religious town. Please read the article to learn about the people who created Hollywood and the reasons behind it!
The people who created Hollywood decided to prohibit all kinds of entertainment, including drinking, partying, gambling, and prostitution. What an irony! A place that offers all sorts of entertainment was considered to be made into a kosher society!
The controversies surrounding Hollywood, such as the me too movement, exploitation, and others, are opposite of what the creators imagined.
Who Were The People Behind The Creation Of Hollywood?
The creation of Hollywood started with a religiously crippled individual, Harvey Wilcox, who gained success and fortune in real Estate. Even though he apprenticed as a cobbler, he became more successful in his career with the induction of Real Estate.
The real estate development that Wilcox started planning around the Los Angeles area still needed to be improved and developed. His wife was involved in the process and shared his ambition of a religious and ideological society.
The plan led to them creating the map of Hollywood and registering it in 1886 as the “Map of Hollywood” at the L.A. County Recorder’s Office. With the registration of the map, it was clear that Hollywood as a district got more recognition and supervision.
Who Is Harvey Wilcox?
Harvey Wilcox is known as someone who created Hollywood, the district in the city of Los Angeles, California, U.S. Harvey was a childhood handicapped as he contracted polio leading to getting crippled below the knee.
He was a man who was quite independent, and to cope with his disability, he tried different ways. One of the ways that he implied was to become an excellent horseman. As a profession, he was a cobbler; however, he invested in real Estate earning a small fortune in Kansas.
When he was 51 years old, he married Daeida Hartell, who was 22 years old during the time of marriage. At that age, he was already an established real estate developer. However, his wife had no idea that one day her name would be related to one of the most famous locales in the world.
His wife was born in 1861 in a small town called Hicksville in Ohio. As an individual, she was a devout Episcopalian who worked for some time as a milliner. The good thing was she was quite excited about the outdoors, so her experience with her husband was relatively successful.
What Was His Plan For Hollywood?
The utopian community designed by Wilcox was supposed to be a place for religious and idealist people. Idealism perception of society means that nobody will drink or use substances which might make them lose their senses.
Prostitution was considered a sin, as did gambling for Wilcox and his wife. They aimed to establish a God-abiding and lawful society; however, if the transition to today’s Hollywood is anything to go by, you can rest assured those two are turning in their graves!
Besides Harvey and his wife, Daeida, others, such as Harvey’s sister, also came to Hollywood to stay! The man was a prohibitionist who went on to create the map of Hollywood from shoemaking!
Creation Of Hollywood: A Christian Utopia To A Sin City
After marriage, the couple settled in Los Angeles, buying a house on 11th Street and Figueroa Boulevard. Initially, Wilcox decided to become a farmer, but after a certain point, he got bored and returned to real Estate.
They lost a child, which was a challenge for both of them; however, after a certain point, their way of coping involved riding around Los Angeles in their carriage. It led to them buying four separate parcels of land: Franklin Avenue, Sunset Boulevard, Whitley Avenue, and Gower Street.
Both Harvey Wilcox and his wife Daeida had a strong sense of idealism and religion, and it is due to this fact that their ideas to develop a perfect and romantic suburb started forming. They planned a utopian society where people’s religion was the foundation of society.
Real Estate became an integral part of their life. Apparently, Daeida coined the name Hollywood, which she picked up when she was traveling by train. The couple decided that prostitution, gambling, and alcohol would be prohibited in society.
The Current Hollywood
Wilcox owned Hollywood but it completely changed over time. Hollywood is not a place but also an emotion where television shows, American movies, and other entertainment-based jobs are done.
It has not become a tourist attraction, and people living in Tinsel Town are often submerged in booze, gambling, and other illegal activities. Showbiz has become synonymous with gossip, controversy, and versatility!
You can feel the existentialism among people and themes of survival in society. There are consistent darker elements in the social setting of Hollywood, which is opposite to what Wilcox planned.
Over the years, California and Los Angeles have developed into an entertainment industry with people from different life sections. It can be called Sin City! So if you ask, who runs Hollywood? Many says, Jews do!
How Was Hollywood Named?
Daeida, the wife of Wilcox, was going back to Ohio, and she was traveling by train when she first heard of the term “Hollywood“! A woman on the train used the term “Hollywood,” which was the name of her Estate in Illinois.
The name was quite catchy, and Wilcox and his wife agreed it was an appropriate moniker for the society they were planning and designing.
Gregory Paul Williams wrote a book called The Story of Hollywood in which he informed that the couple had renamed the completed purchased land Hollywood Boulevard by the early 1900s.
According to the plans, house churches across Hollywood Boulevard represented the major Christian denomination.
When Did The Hollywood Sign Created?
The sign of Hollywood is situated in the Country, costing around $21,000. The sign was designed by architect Thomas Fisk Goff as Woodruff and Shoults gave the contract. The sign’s location is Griffith Park, Mount Lee, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California.
It was originally erected in 1923, and a housing development advertised the district through this sign by stating, “superb environment without high cost on the Hollywood side of the hills. The sign was dedicated in 1923 officially.
You might also question, when did Hollywood start? It all did in 1911.
Now You Know!
It was quite shocking to know the actual idea behind the perception of Hollywood and what it became. So, now you know who created Hollywood! How an idea of a Christian Utopia turned into a Sin City as people performed all kinds of actions considered sins by many.
The acts of adultery, prostitution, murder, rape, gambling, and others are addressed as a negative influence on people and their souls by Christianity. Comment down below regarding the significance of Hollywood according to you!
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