Holy Money (Vatican Finances) - Al-Jazeera

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12. It was the battle of the trees!

Lots of fig trees in the area too, as the Wiki article notes. But the Wilcox family liked "Hollywood" better.

It also mentions the real estate shenanigans of the time, involving some prominent Los Angeles 1%-ers: the Otis/Chandler families, founders of the Los Angeles TIMES.

Then after the shenanigans, the inevitable real-estate bust happened - the more things change, etc.

We're lucky the place wasn't named after a street in North Hollywood. That huge sign up on the hillside would read "Klumpwood..."

Anyone interested in the history of L.A. - check out the 2009 PBS documentary "Inventing L.A." It focuses on the Los Angeles TIMES and its founding families. You'll get a lot of the real story behind the movie "Chinatown," if you read - or watch - between the lines.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1368463/