Hollywood, CA -
The Hollywood sign is undergoing a show business inevitability - a facelift.
Thirty-five years after it was rebuilt, the sign's letters will be stripped down to sheet metal, primed and given a new coat of white paint. The 10-week project begins Tuesday. The sign celebrates its 90th anniversary next year.
It went up in the hills in 1923 at a cost of $21,000 to promote a Hollywoodland Real Estate Group development. It read "Hollywoodland" until 1949, when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce entered into a preservation deal and the last four letters were removed.
It was replaced in 1978 following a fundraiser hosted by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. The letters were ceremonially purchased for $28,000 each by celebrities including Alice Cooper, Gene Autry and Andy Williams.
