If I was to learn something about history that I could really take away from, I wanted to know something that I was at least a little familiar with. I mean, what decade were we in now? If this was a game leading up to the present, I’d at least enjoy something more contemporary. As always, the Ghost of California’s past voice chimed through and echoed through the darkness at the moment I thought he would never come.

“There’s a little something I want to show you that you think you may know a lot about. Have you ever heard of the Hollywoodland sign?” I glared into the darkness wondering what this fool was talking about. “You mean the Hollywood sign right? I hike there like all the time,” I retorted. All I could hear was the ghost’s cackle as the scenery around me warped into a landscape I knew all too well.

    Brown and green scenery were all around me. It smelled fresh, but I knew I was not in modern times. It felt as if I knew exactly where I was. I was by what I knew as the hike to get to the Hollywood sign! As I looked up into the sky, I saw a huge cheap looking billboard sign that read, “Hollywoodland.” I laughed because I thought this was a complete joke that the ghost was trying to play on me.
 

    “Ain’t she a beauty?” said a man standing right next me. I nodded, not wanting to say anything to distort the future in any way possible. “I’m Albert Koethe by the way. I’m the caretaker of this thing. I live right behind that L!” I smiled at him and asked, “So, what’s this Hollywoodland sign about? I’m confused.” He put his hands on his hips and began to respond.

    “Well. Even though I helped put this up, it was built from pretty cheap materials. I’m sure you’ve heard of DW Griffith and Edgar Rice Burroughs. They are some of the investors from Hollywoodland Development Company. We erected these letters from telephone poles, wood framing and sheet metal facing in 1923. The plan was for it to be an advertisement small residential plots and their business of constructing single family homes.” (Ethington, Phil. Social Landscapes and the Power of Place: The Hollywood ‘Sign’)
 

    Were we thinking of a different Hollywood sign? My eyes nearly popped out of my head because this entire time I thought the Hollywood sign I knew and loved was about the pop culture and fame of Los Angeles.
 

    Albert went on with a tremendous amount of excitement because he saw the inquisitive look on my face. “I know it’s nice! The Southern California telephone company is even putting in wires and cables for the future homeowners of Hollywoodland! Soon enough, they will install ‘aqueduct water, sewers, electric lights, ornamental street lighting, natural stone terraces and ornamental walls so that the home builders in Hollywoodland should have every convenience at the completion of their homes.’ This city will really be on the map now!”
 

    As I entered the darkness again, I marveled at the fact that I had no idea about the real story of the Hollywood sign. I was appalled.
 

Everything around me faded into gray and I caught myself walking along a dim street. Everyone I saw around me looked desperate. People looked at me with longing eyes full of desperation. I needed to get out of this scenario. It was really freaking me out.  The nearest open place I saw was a church and since the Ghost had not given me any direction, I decided I’d just peep in and say a couple of prayers so I could get back home as soon as possible.
 

I took a step back and walked out of the church. Eyes filled with tears and despair followed me and burned through me as I stepped away.
 

When I walked out, it felt as time was changing because the scenery was slowly developing as I walked down the street. I glanced at my surroundings and saw an enormous warehouse with multiple individuals standing outside of it. As I approached them, I heard the commotion going on inside. A man came up to me and asked me if I’d like to see inside and if I’d ever consider wanting a job in there. I shook my head, a little confused. My eyes widened at the sight of so many planes up on pedestals.
 

“There’s seriously so many!” I exclaimed. He smiled at me. “Yep. Have you seen the movie ‘Hell’s Angels’? It’s by Howard Hughes.” I shook my head in disagreement. “Well, he made a four million dollar famous movie about the Great War breaking out in Europe. It really emphasized his role as a leading air weapons manufacturer. ‘When the dictators are finally bombed off this earth, we shall become rugged individualists and rivals again. But until then, we are an army of hundreds of thousands of aircraft workers with one aim only—victory.’[1] We here air workers memorized that quote. We gotta hurry and finish our work because we have 60,000 planes to make by the end of the year. We here in Los Angeles are where the nation's vital aircraft industry is based and we've got to jump up our production until we win. Good thing L.A. has such a developed knowledge base with USC, UCLA and Berkeley. We're working together to share our blueprints so that war planes originally designed by one firm can be produced by all of us. (Ethington, Hell’s Angels: Air and Power in a Cinematic Metropolis).”