The Hollywoodland Sign and Rotary

As most of you know, I grew up in Southern California just a few miles from “Hollywood.” The sign in the photo was a prominent landmark as we drove through the city. Before it was the Hollywood sign, it was the Hollywoodland sign. That’s what the Los Angeles landmark spelled out when it was first built in 1923, and illuminating the 50-by-30-foot letters at night wasn’t easy — doing so took 4,000 20-watt light bulbs. What’s more, they weren’t all lit up at once: The “HOLLY,” “WOOD,” and “LAND” portions flashed individually before the full sign was illuminated at once. Designed by Thomas Fisk Goff of the Crescent Sign Company, the sign had nothing to do with the film industry originally — it was just an advertisement for a housing development. But as the movie business rapidly expanded over the next few decades under its literal and figurative shadow — and as many of those motion pictures used it in establishing shots as a shorthand for the area — the sign became?synonymous?with that industry.

During the Great Depression, the sign fell into disrepair, and both the “Land” segment and the light bulbs were removed around 1949, when the L.A. Parks Department and Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took over ownership of the sign. The sign deteriorated again over the next few decades and had to be rescued by a group of celebrities in 1978, at which point it read something like “HULLYWO D.” Rocker, Alice Cooper, magazine mogul Hugh Hefner, and cowboy actor Gene Autry were among the nine donors who contributed $27,777 apiece to replace each of the original letters with new ones that were 45 feet tall and made of steel. That version is the one still standing today.

Why is that important? To most people in Africa, it isn’t, unless you are planning a visit to “Tinsel Town” or watching a movie based in Southern California, but it is an iconic structure on a hillside that has been restored, retouched and rebuilt several times.

So, too, is our Rotary story. The Rotary I joined in 1993 no longer exists in most places. Nevertheless, there are many in our Rotary Family who love the “old” Rotary and resist the efforts to move into the 21st century. I understand the sentiment, but the “new” Rotary is an exciting place and the possibilities for the future are simply beyond the imagination of our early founders.

None of the “First Four” could have imagined the outreach and successes of Rotary across the globe. It would take months for any of them to travel from Chicago to South Africa in 1905, but today we have meetings that are literally conducted with participants on six continents. We just returned from a scaled down Rotary International Convention in Houston, Texas, where 11,000 Rotarians gathered together to celebrate the climax of our 117th year!

RI President Jennifer Jones has now asked us to “Imagine Rotary” beyond our own self-made boundaries. Where will we go? What will we see? What will we accomplish? I am looking forward to seeing and experiencing new adventures in Rotary beyond my imagination in 1993.

It is time to re-set our goals and vision. We need to stop thinking “What’s In It For Me” and begin concentrating on “What Is The Legacy” that I want to leave for the next generation. Many of our Rotary friends and colleagues did not survive the Covid pandemic unscarred. Some did not make it to this Rotary Year. Their goals, plans and dreams stopped.

This Rotary Year we will strive to “Imagine Rotary” beyond our lives.

·?????Projects that will impact children yet to be born.

·?????Ideas that will improve the lives of people we have not met.

·?????Giving that will keep giving far beyond the life that I now live!

The Hollywood sign still stands on a hill in Los Angeles, but it isn’t the same sign that first went up almost 100 years ago. It has been repaired and updated many times. It shines today because concerned people took action – and gave money – to keep it there.

Where will Rotary go? It is beyond our imagination!