Hollywoodland Beginnings: The Hollywoodland Subdivision
By Greg Williams
Excerpts from The Story of Hollywoodland by Greg Williams, published 1992

The wilderness of Mt. Lee lasted into the twentieth century. Animal trails meandered through patches of sumac and sage. A half mile up from where Beachwood turned to dirt, the canyon became open and flat. Two towering stands of eucalyptus trees defined the entrance if today’s village. During WWI, when the Home Guard was formed, the men of Hollywood met in the area to train every Monday night. Families came along to watch the marching. Concessionaires set up food stands.

In 1923, Harry Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times and M. H. Sherman, Director of Pacific Electric Railway Company brought the developers to the canyon. Chandler and Sherman formed a key syndicate in the real estate boom across Los Angeles. Sherman had acquired the acreages when putting a railroad through Hollywood. The developer was S.H. Woodruff, who with his partner, Tracy E. Shouts, and a team of enthusiastic salesmen intended to make Hollywoodland as famous and successful as its flourishing namesake.

Beachwood Drive was paved north of the intersection of Graciosa. The little streets called the Glens were paved as well.

They built the first building in the canyon, a sales and promotion office located and still standing at 2700 N. Beachwood Drive. It was designed by an architect named John Delario who moved his offices to Beachwood Drive to get new commissions for Hollywoodland homes.

Development commenced using mule drawn graders and steam shovels. In ten weeks from opening, the developers claimed to have cut seven miles of road. Happily, none of the earth moving equipment that exists today had been developed. Houses were constructed either on the uphill or downhill side of the slopes adjacent to roadways. If development had occurred within the last forty years, entire hillsides would have been graded into flat building sites, destroying all the original topography.

The developers envisioned a tract much larger than what it is today. In tract maps from Woodruff’s office, Hollywoodland reaches down to large lakeside lots on the west. On the northeast, spacious lots went across the ridge of Mt.Lee to Bronson Canyon.

Homeowners could pick a site of scenic beauty nestled “ in a cozy, wooded glen” or “ standing boldly on some glorious scenic point.” This was a smart investment, according to the developers; the land had come at a very low price. The most expensive lot went for $55,000 price tag, the lowest for $2,500.

Engineering Service Corporation, a company still doing business in Los Angeles, engineered and laid out the tract. A central mixing station on Hollyridge provided the concrete and gravel for the entire tract. Work crews and stone masons lived in tents on upper Beachwood canyon while they worked on the development of the tract.

The original concept of Hollywoodland outlined a community for both wealthy and middle-class homeowners. “ One does not need to have great wealth to enjoy the wonderful environment, scenic beauty and wholesome surroundings”.
Homes, however needed to be designed with a European influence, the styles restricted to French Normandy, Tudor English, Mediterranean and Spanish. A homeowner could build a castle or a farmhouse. What mattered were artistic choices, not economic ones. Deed restrictions lasted fifty years.