Dear Rowan,

For much of its history, the machine that is Hollywood has been synonymous with overindulgence, hedonism, glamour, vice and greed. But did you know that it was originally a Christian settlement? Free plots were given to churches. The list of ordinances and “do-nots” were long and the promises of “good wholesome living away from the devilish city” were strong.

Harvey Henderson Wilcox and his wife Daeida settled Hollywood from their own plot of land west of Los Angeles in 1887. Currently Hollywood is the town where careers are made and broken, worlds are created and sold to the masses and the most fantastical imaginations are set free, for a price. In the beginning though it was a wheelchair bound, prohibitionist shoemaker who; along with his wife and grieving over the loss of their newborn son, just wanted to build a utopian paradise.

From its humble beginnings to becoming the bastion of excess that it is today, the story of how Hollywood came to be is appropriately dramatic. I’m excited to tell the tale in future correspondence with you Precious girl.

With All My Love and Admiration,

Papa