Feeling the Spirit: Life Beneath the HOLLYWOOD Sign

Donna Knoll Shawhan has heard every language spoken from the steady throng of weekend visitors headed to the Hollywood Sign.  But nowadays absent from her neighborhood is the voice of a child playing outside.

The House Nearest to the Hollywood Sign

Donna grew up in a house below the HOLLYWOOD sign.  When her father, Carl Knoll, built it in 1949, the house was the most close of the entire 1924 subdivision originally named Hollywoodland.

When he gained a neighbor the following year at 6145 Mulholland Highway, the two houses were the earliest of the modern designs up there.

Carl also purchased three adjacent lots for a total price of fifteen hundred dollars!

Nearby homes at 6105, 6107 and 6111 Mulholland Highway were built in the early 1960s

He Felt the Spirit

Donna's father visited L.A. in the 1930s to see a football game at the Coliseum.  On that trip he saw oranges, sunshine, the ocean and mountains covered with snow.  He "felt the spirit" of California, and it was something he wanted to be a part of, Donna explained.  He promptly went home to Wisconsin and packed his bags.  World War II interrupted his life, and he spent it stationed in the South Pacific.  When peacetime returned, he was hired at Ralph Parsons Engineering on Third Street as an aerospace engineer, then later worked at North American Aviation.

Carl was very familiar with living in Hollywood.  As a returning soldier, he likely experienced a shortage of housing stock that the government would eventually remedy with widespread planned suburban home tracts like the Lakewood community in the early 1950s.

He served for many, many years as president of the Hollywoodland Homeowners Association.  As a retired engineer, he then served as a deputy to City Councilman Joel Wachs.

Photo courtesy of Donna Shawhan

Donna Shawhan
Photo courtesy of Gary Leonard

Being a Kid at Ledgewood Drive & Mulholland Highway

From 1st grade to 12th grade being a daily passenger on the school bus enabled Donna to know all the neighbor kids.  In the early years she was dropped off at Cheremoya Avenue Elementary School, then later LeConte Junior High  and finally at Hollywood High.  Horseback riding solidified life-long friendships - nearby Sunset Ranch was where her horse, Fauna, was stabled.  The horse often came to the house for lunch.

Eleven-year old Donna with Fauna at Sunset Ranch
Photo courtesy of Donna Shawhan

The hills were rural and undeveloped.  Donna occasionally planned day-long horseback trips along Mulholland to Topanga Canyon.  She and her riding buddies rode trails to Griffith Park and Glendale, and from a ridge the group had free access to concerts at the Greek Theatre.  Favorite performers were James Taylor and Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Her dad's "500 dollar lots" provided the baseball field where Donna spent a lot of time - seen in the above photo.

In the 1965 & 2022 photos below provide a comparison of the neighboring A-frame house that was built in 1963.

Upper photo courtesy of Donna Shawhan
Lower photo courtesy of Gary Leonard

Donna is also holding a poster board for an essay titled "Growing Up in Hollywoodland 1949" written by her older sister, Diana Knoll:

Courtesy of Donna Shawhan

Brother & sister, Bryce and Diana Knoll, circa 1953
Photo courtesy of Donna Shawhan

Neighbors included an Oscar award-winning actress.  The night of the win culminated in a boisterous house party.  Donna's mom, Barbara, shouted across the canyon for the celebrants to pipe down - her kids had school the next day and needed their sleep!

British writer Aldous Huxley lived on Deronda Drive along the destructive path of the big Hollywood Hills fire of 1961.  In its aftermath he and his wife, Laura, moved into Virginia Pfeiffer's large estate on Mulholland Highway.  Pfeiffer's young children Juan and Paula happened to be Huxley's godchildren who became playmates with the Knoll kids.  Donna has fond memories of Huxley.

HOLLYWEED

This blogger and Donna may have crossed paths over 50 years earlier at LeConte Junior High School.  This blogger grew up in the flatlands of Hollywood and was two grades apart from Donna. In a yearbook Donna was pictured in Grade B9 along with her friend Danny Finegood who later in 1976 garnered attention for cleverly transforming the Sign to HOLLYWEED.

SIGNING OFF

With the recent passing of big sister Diana, Donna has been cleaning out her former family home.  It certainly must not be easy...as a lifetime of memories have to be sorted, too.  Donna is glad her dad was able to live out his life here.

Photo courtesy of Gary Leonard

In the active housing market, even this sign will turn heads.
Photo courtesy of Gary Leonard

Thank you to Gary Leonard for introducing me to Donna Knoll Shawhan.  Thank you also to Larry Greenstein for starting the nice chain reaction.