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Cash for a bit of the old Hollywoodland sign

For 31 years, a slice of the long-gone Hollywoodland sign hung in the Andrinas' home or office.

Not much longer than four feet and a few inches wide, the bronze-colored tin strip with six bright bulbs used to light up the edge of a letter D before the iconic sign was shortened in 1949. It was discovered by a relative scouring the Hollywood Hills for fossils.

Guests who visited their home near the upper reaches of Beachwood Canyon would try to wrest the relic from the Andrinas -- one even offering to pay $5,500 on the spot -- but the couple loved it too much to give it up.

That was until Sunday, when they found a cause worthy enough to sell the artifact. The Hollywoodland Homeowners Assn. was holding its third annual flea market to raise money to preserve the neighborhood's aging granite staircases, walls and gates.

Built by European stonemasons 84 years ago when Hollywoodland was opened and advertised to East Coast transplants as a Mediterranean Riviera in the Hollywood Hills, the historic stone features are one of the many charms that have attracted famous moviemakers, musicians and writers to the quaint, village-like neighborhood for decades.
Read entire article at LAT