Bronson Cave - Hollywood Sign

This is the entrance to Bronson Cave located in Bronson Canyon which is in Griffith Park, a part of Los Angles.


In 1903, the Union Rock Company founded a quarry, originally named Brush Canyon, for excavation of crushed rock used in the construction of city streets. The quarry ceased operation in the late 1920s, leaving the caves behind. The caves became known as the Bronson Caves after a nearby street, giving the area its more popular name of Bronson Canyon (the same street indirectly provided the stage name for actor Charles Bronson, who chose the name of the Bronson Gate at Hollywood's Paramount Studios, which in turn derived its name from Bronson Street).

Hundreds of movies and television shows were filmed her. Most of the movies were science fiction movies. My favorite is The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This movie was starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. Ralph Dumke was the policeman who said he found the dead body on the burning haystack. Monica's father knew him as the record store owner on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, California.




Television shows that used the cave included Batman, Wonder Woman, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Star Trek, and the Lone Ranger.

I picked up a rock for a souvenir. I like this place. When I was a kid I saw movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers in the theater. I was so frightened when I went to bed that night, I looked under my bed to see if there were any seed pods.




The other entrance.

There are three ways in or out. It said on the internet the cave was dug to get crushed rock for the LA streets and highways that were being constructed.

It will be fun looking at the movies made here and seeing the cave.

This is the radio and television tower we see in Burbank which is behind the tower. To the right of the tower is Griffith Park. To the left of the tower are the Hollywood Hills.

You can climb up behind the Hollywood Sign. But it is a two and a half hour climb and the sign is fenced off so you can't get too close.
The sign was first erected in 1923 and originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND". Its purpose was to advertise the name of a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Chinatown. H.J. Whitley had already used a sign to advertise his development Whitley Heights, which was located between Highland Avenue and Vine Avenue. He suggested to his friend Harry Chandler, the owner of the Los Angeles Times newspaper, that the land syndicate in which he was involved make a similar sign to advertise their land. Real estate developers Woodruff and Shoults called their development "Hollywoodland" and advertised it as a "superb environment without excessive cost on the Hollywood side of the hills".
They contracted the Crescent Sign Company to erect thirteen letters on the hillside, each facing south. The sign company owner, Thomas Fisk Goff (1890–1984), designed the sign. Each letter of the sign was 30 feet wide and 50 feet high, and the whole sign was studded with some 4,000 light bulbs. The sign would flash in segments; "HOLLY," "WOOD," and "LAND" would light up individually, before lighting up entirely. Below the Hollywoodland sign was a searchlight to attract more attention. The poles that supported the sign were hauled to the site by mules. Cost of the project was $21,000 (about $250,000 in 2011 dollars). The sign was officially dedicated on July 13, 1923. It was intended only to last a year and a half, but after the rise of the American cinema in Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the sign became an internationally recognized symbol, and was left there
 

It is a famous Hollywood landmark and tourist attraction. You can see the tower and Hollywood Sign from the Hollywood Bowl.