Ever wonder why the Hollywood sign is there? Have you imagined that it was to promote Hollywood? Nope. Or celebrate the film capital of the world? Nah.

That’s what it represents now, but when it was first erected, the sign read “Hollywoodland.” It was a huge electric billboard advertising real estate.

Yep, that’s right. The Hollywood sign was a marketing gimmick to promote the development of a new, exclusive residential community in the Hollywood Hills, called Hollywoodland.

The Hollywoodland residential development began in 1923. The Hollywoodland sign was only supposed to be up for one and a half years.

But here we are, 98 years later, and it’s a permanent part of Los Angeles landscape. Can you imagine Los Angeles without the Hollywood sign?

I can’t.

The “land” was dropped from “Hollywoodland” — a condition to keep the sign up.. The Hollywoodland neighborhood that it promoted is now called Beachwood Canyon.

What’s not obvious is that the development was on a hillside, a STEEP hillside. And, as you can imagine, not a lot of people want to be climbing up hills to get to their houses.

So the developers created a series of 6 outdoor staircases that still exist today.

And they are open to the public to enjoy — if climbing stairs is your idea of fun. Actually, it was fun!

I walked the stairs, and while it was challenging, the views were totally worth it!

Here’s my video that shows where to find the stairs and how to traverse them.

Not interested in climbing stairs? Can’t blame you. But don’t fret — you can still see the stairs without hiking them. It’s all in the video!

Enjoy!