History
		Hollywood the industry and Hollywood the place have always had a symbiotic relationship. The two have grown up together, experiencing the joys and triumphs of the good times and the sadness and defeats of the low times. Hollywood Entertainment Museum documents the beginnings and the maturing of this relationship between the place and the industry. Tellingly, the Museum's own history reflects the ebb and flow of Hollywood, making it not just the documentor, but a part of the history and the future of the region.

The Timeline History of Hollywood

19th Century

1800's: In 1887, Harvey Wilcox files a map of his ranch with the county recorder for subdivision purposes. His ranch is called Hollywood. Two years later, the industry begins with the technical advances of George Eastman introducing commercial celluloid roll film and Thomas Edison and W.K. Dickson developing the kinetoscope, a box in which the rolled film is moved past a light. From these beginnings comes the rise of peep shows and the first commercially projected motion pictures. Edison Film Company films for the first time in California on October 25, 1898, at the Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton.

20th Century

1900 - 1909: Hollywood becomes a city (population: 700), with all the bustling importance of all growing areas. The cornerstone of Hollywood High School is laid at the corner of Sunset and Highland boulevards and the Selig Film Manufacturing Company becomes the first major film company to come to Los Angeles. The first theatrical film shot entirely on location in California is The Heart of A Race Tout (1908) by the Selig Company, which soon built the first purposely-built permanent film studio (1909) in which In the Power of the Sultan (1909) was shot. Charles N. Pierce conducts the first Hollywood tours for tourists on trolley cars.

1910 - 1919: Hollywood is annexed to Los Angeles and Prospect Avenue's name is changed to Hollywood Boulevard. The population is now 7,500 and the name "Hollywood" is known throughout the world. Hollywood's first movie theatre, the Idyle Hour Theatre, opens (1912) and Sid Grauman's "Million Dollar Theatre" opens (1918) with The Silent Man. Meanwhile, throughout the decade companies, attracted by the good weather, topography and escaping the monopoly of the Trust in the east, are all building studios and shooting in and around Hollywood. Cecil B. DeMille and the Lasky Feature Play Company make Hollywood's first feature-length film, The Squaw Man. D.W. Griffith debuts The Birth of a Nation. Theda Bara becomes Hollywood's first sex symbol, and Charlie Chaplin makes his first appearance as "the tramp." Top box office stars are Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, whose curls are the movie's first influence on fashion.

1920 - 1929: Forty million Americans go to the movies each week. Hollywood's population is 36,000. The Coconut Grove opens. Rudolph Valentino opens in The Shiek, and post-war affluence allows remarkable experiments to be financed, resulting in a period of creativity and innovation. Headline in "Variety" shouts, "Radio Sweeping Country," and by 1923, 10 million Americans have radios in their homes. The Hollywoodland sign is constructed at a cost of $21,000. Lon Chaney stars in The Hunchback of Notre Dame; it takes four-and-a-half hours to apply his makeup. Louella Parson's becomes Hollywood's first gossip columnist. Sound comes to the movies, rescuing movies from declining audiences due to radio. Clara Bow becomes the "It" girl, and Howard Hughes discovers Jean Harlow. The stock market crashes, and Hollywood is hit hard initially.

1930 - 1939: Hollywood rides out the Depression years, growing even stronger. As Americans crave to escape the economy through entertainment, grand movie palaces spring up. John Wayne has his first starring role, and Greta Garbo wears a Gilbert Adrian hat tilted down over one eye in Romance, which sets a fashion trend for the rest of the decade. Great movies of the decade include MGM's Tarzan, starring Johnny Weissmuller; Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert star in It Happened One Night; Of Human Bondage, which makes a star of Bette Davis; and the first feature-length cartoon, Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres in Hollywood. The radio show Hollywood on the Air begins broadcasting celebrity interviews from the Coconut Grove and Hollywood Hotel goes on air with Dick Powell as emcee and Louella Parsons interviewing stars. The Café Trocadero opens, and Lana Turner makes the sweater a major fashion trend. The Columbia Broadcasting System and NBC build huge facilities in Hollywood, and radio makes the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street famous. The chairman of the House of Un-American Activities Committee stresses the need to investigate communism in Hollywood.

1940 - 1949: Hollywood goes to war. Movie studios mobilize and the film colony immerses itself in the war effort. The first Hollywood "camp show," featuring Laurel and Hardy and Chico Marx is staged before 20,000 soldiers at California's Camp Roberts and Bob Hope makes his first radio broadcast from a military base. The Hollywood Canteen, founded by Bette Davis and John Garfield, opens and almost every major radio and screen entertainer in Hollywood volunteers at some point during its three year existence. Music City, formerly a radio store, begins to sell records and owner Glenn Wallichs joins with Johnny Mercer and Buddy DeSylva to form Capitol Record Company. Independent television stations emerge, studios announce plans to buy expand into television, and ABC buys Warner Bros. lot and establishes world's largest television plant.

1950 - 1959: Gene Autry becomes the first major movie star to announce he will appear in a sponsored television series, while Charlton Heston is the first Broadway and east coast television actor to become a movie star. There are more than 12 million television sets in American homes. Construction begins on the Capitol Records building, which remains a Hollywood landmark. Disneyland opens, the first eight stars are dedicated on Hollywood Boulevard's "Walk of Fame," and rock and roll and drive-ins become the trends of the 50s.

1960 - 1969: John F. Kennedy takes office. AT&T and the National Space Agency launch the Telestar satellite, making live transmissions possible between the United States and Europe. The Hollywood Cinerama Dome opens at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street, but the film industry is in a slump while television and recording are riding high, bringing new jobs, talent and dollars to Hollywood. By the end of the decade, low budget films and independent filmmakers begin to turn things around for Hollywood. The smash hit, Bonnie and Clyde, influences America's fashion sense. The movie rating system is introduced and the world discovers Goldie Hawn, Dustin Hoffman and Star Trek. Lacking funds, plans to build a Hollywood museum go down the tubes.

1970 - 1979: The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce decides to add a star on the "Walk of Fame" for Charlie Chaplin, who has been ignored for years due to his radical political beliefs. The Los Angeles City Planning Commission adopts a new master plan for Hollywood, designed to bring Hollywood back to its former glory. Ted Mann takes over the General Theatre circuit, including Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Big names of the decade include John Travolta, Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Jane Fonda, Art Carney and Ronald Reagan announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president. The new Hollywood sign, at a cost of $27,000 per letter, is unveiled on network television.

1980 - 1989: Ronald Reagan becomes the first movie star to be elected president of the United States, and Sherry Lansing becomes the first woman to head a major studio as president of 20th Century Fox. HBO's movie cable channel, Cinemax, begins operation and VCRs begin a rise in popularity, as does cable television. Then Senator David Roberti, president pro tempore of the California State Senate, reignites the concept of an entertainment museum in Hollywood. Initial funds are secured through the California Department of Commerce for planning such a museum and Phyllis Caskey, administrative assistant in Senator Roberti's office, leads project feasibility and site selection committees. By the end of the decade, the museum officially takes the name, "Hollywood Entertainment Museum."

1990 - 1999: Annually, Americans spend approximately $4.9 billion at the movies and $12 billion renting or buying videotapes. The Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles commits $4 million in pre-development and site acquisition funds for Hollywood Entertainment Museum. Proctor & Gamble donates the Max Factor Collection and a significant cash donation to the Museum; actress Edie Adams donates the Ernie Kovacs Collection; and the Hollywood Miniatures, a series of six sets designed in the 1940s, are added to the Museum's archives. The Museum unveils its first exhibition, "Hollywood Windows," on Hollywood Boulevard. Meanwhile, the City of Los Angeles takes possession of the Egyptian Theatre in order to preserve it. It reopens, restored, at the end of the decade as American Cinemateque. Hollywood Entertainment Museum announces it will build in the Hollywood Galaxy complex, making it the first project to open in the "Renaissance of Hollywood." Hollywood Boulevard is closed for a black tie gala that includes the presentation of the Hollywood Legacy Award to the Clooney family. In 1997, the Education Center for the Entertainment Arts, a program of the Museum, is opened, culminating in the June 14, 1999, opening of the Entertainment Academy at the Museum, a year round, fully accredited high school operated by the Juvenile Courts & Community Schools Division of the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

2000 - Onwards: Being continued...

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