Dateline>City of Angels

Famous as the film capital of the world and home to L.A.’s mythic “Boulevard of Dreams,” Hollywood has come a long way since its founding in 1886. Carved from lands that once belonged to Ranchos La Brea and Los Feliz, the area was known to the region’s Californios as “La Nopalera” because of the huge cactus patches that grew there.

So here’s this week’s question: Why the change in monikers? How did modern Hollywood get its name? Click the continuation link for the answer…

The Answer…

Hollywood was named by its husband and wife founders, Harvey and Daeida Wilcox. They arrived from Kansas in 1883 with dreams of leveraging Los Angeles’ explosive land boom. After losing an infant son, they consoled themselves with carriage trips through the rural areas that still enveloped L.A. at the time. On one such drive they came across a 120-acre orchard near present-day Ivar and Hollywood Blvd., snatched it and some surrounding acreage up for a song, and began mapping out their new planned community.

The Woman, The Legend

Daeida is generally credited for naming not only the town, but its streets, and is said to have put a great deal of thought into choosing appellations that exuded charm. One legend says she named the community for the “Holy Wood” of a cross erected by Fr. Junipero Serra on a nearby Cahuenga hilltop in 1769. Others believe she was inspired by the wild Toyon “holly” growing in the area, or possibly the traditional, non-native Christmas holly that she tried to transplant to Southern California.

However, the most commonly accepted story is that she “borrowed” the name from a woman she met while visiting the Midwest. Sharing a train ride together, Daeida listened intently as her travel companion spoke glowingly of her own estate back in Chicago, which she called Hollywood. Completely enthralled, Daeida couldn’t resist adopting the whimsical moniker for her and the hubby’s real estate venture.

An Odd Twist of Fate

Ironically, the Wilcoxes founded Hollywood as a temperance town, offering free land to any congregation that would establish a church there. By the time it was annexed by Los Angeles in 1910, the community boasted a population of roughly 4,000.

Harvey would not live to see that growth, however. He died in 1891, after which Daeida went on to marry Philo J. Beveridge, remaining a prime mover in Hollywood’s cultural development until her death in 1914. Within a decade of her passing, the film industry was horning in on the district and radically transforming the landscape, much to the chagrin of residents.

Both Harvey and Daeida are buried at Hollywood Forever Memorial Park and, thankfully, appear to be resting peacefully… There have been no reports of any spinning sounds coming from their graves, despite what their “dry community” has become today.

Other Sources

• Los Angeles A-Z
• Ken Schessler’s This Is Hollywood
• Wikipedia