Hollywood hadn't suffered this kind of blow in more than half a century -- since the day a windstorm blew the H off the Hollywood sign.
A powerful gust whipped down Beachwood Canyon last week, toppling Hollywoodland's oldest tree and sending it crashing toward the pioneering neighborhood's oldest structure.
But a garage next to the original Hollywoodland subdivision sales office deflected the 30-ton Torrey pine, sparing by about an inch the landmark Tudor-style Hansel-and-Gretel house built in 1923.
A 20-man crew spent Wednesday removing the downed 170-foot tree, carefully maneuvering a crane to hoist 10-ton pieces of the pine away from the office at 2700 N. Beachwood Drive.
These days the steeply pitched, shingle-roofed structure continues to house the Hollywoodland Realty Co. and several other commercial tenants just inside the distinctive stone entryway to the neighborhood at the north end of Beachwood Canyon.
Tree experts credited the building's 84-year-old garage with saving the wood-framed office.
The falling pine crushed the garage. Its branches damaged two other homes and at least three parked cars. Although there were passersby on the nearby street when it toppled at 9 p.m. the day after Christmas, no one was hit.
"We're blessed. I'm sure that tree was protecting Beachwood Canyon Village. The amount of damage that was actually done was so minimal," said Patricia Carroll, owner of the old house and garage and operator of the realty company. "It was an old tree with an old soul that saved us all."
Pioneering developer S.H. Woodruff, whose investment syndicate subdivided Hollywoodland, spent $21,000 to build the Hollywood sign in 1923 to advertise the new neighborhood. The sign originally spelled out "Hollywoodland" before a windstorm sent the letter H flying. The sign was repaired and shortened to its present name in 1949 and totally rebuilt in 1978.
The canyon was dry and desolate in the early 1920s when Woodruff hired horse-drawn graders to carve dirt roads along its hillsides. He planted trees to shade new homesites; the Torrey pine next to his office was said to be the first to go in.
About 540 homes now dot the hills around Beachwood Canyon along Hollywoodland's narrow, tree-lined streets. Homes that Woodruff originally sold for $10,000 are now routinely listed at $1.4 million and higher.
The neighborhood remains popular with screenwriters and others involved in movie and television work.
