Happy 100th Birthday to L.A.'s Eiffel Tower

Plus, paddling across California, a mountaineering murder mystery, Yosemite reservations return, and more

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In this time of the year, when we’re marking anniversaries, looking back, and planning for the future, there’s one outdoor icon that’s also celebrating its 100th birthday: the Hollywood Sign.

Now, if you’re not from Los Angeles, you’re probably thinking, “wait – isn’t that just a tourist trap?” And yeah, you’re right, kind of. But the sign’s history and place today are much more interesting to me.

Surveyors in the Hollywoodland development, 1923

The big white letters first arose in the Santa Monica Mountains to advertise the Hollywoodland housing development. The letters were made of wood and covered in more than 4,000 incandescent light bulbs that lit up in sequence—first HOLLY, then WOOD, then LAND, then HOLLYWOODLAND all at once with a bright beacon just below, which really is great foreshadowing for the level of subtlety Hollywood would become known for in the future. A groundskeeper lived in a small shack nearby and had to change out bulbs by hand when they burnt out.