Hollywood is 100 years old: a history of Tinseltown in pictures
The Hollywood film industry is 100 years old this year. In early 1910, director DW Griffith was sent by the Biograph Company to the west coast to take advantage of the Californian sunshine. Pictured here is a still from The Birth of a Nation, the first ever feature-length film, which was directed by DW Griffith in 1914. Actors costumed in the full regalia of the Ku Klux Klan chase down a white actor in blackface
DW Griffith took with him a troupe of actors including Lillian Gish (pictured above), Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore. The first film ever shot in Hollywood was In Old California
In 1910, the area where Hollywood now stands was notable only for its citrus groves and plentiful sunshine. By 1915, it was the centre of the American film business
The backlot at Universal Studios, California, circa 1915
The backlot at Universal Studios, California, 1916
Crowds gather on a huge set of an Egyptian temple in a still from the silent film, 'Intolerance,' directed by DW Griffith, 1916
17 April 1919: Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and film director DW Griffith on the day they formed the United Artists corporation
Hollywood Royalty, circa 1920: Married actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford are framed in a life ring just before setting off on their belated European honeymoon on board the Lapland
Fatty Arbuckle was a member of Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops. His Hollywood career was cut short by scandal when he was accused of raping and accidentally killing Virginia Rappe. Though he was acquitted, the scandal overshadowed his legacy
A view over the back lot at Universal City Studios in 1921. Built on farmland, the studio complex was the world's largest at the time
Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan stand on a pavement by a lamp post in a still from the film The Kid, directed by Chaplin himself, 1921
30 July 1922: The wedding of actress Marilyn Miller to Jack Pickford. Guests include Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin
The exterior of Warner Brothers West Coast Studio in Hollywood is seen in about 1923
The exterior of Warner Brothers Studios in 1925. Canadian-born brothers Jack, Sam and Albert Warner founded the film studio in 1923
The Hollywood sign originally said "Hollywoodland" when it was installed in 1923. The last four letters were deleted when the sign was refurbished in 1949
A view over Hollywood in 1925
A boulevard in Hollywood, circa 1925
Austrian actress Eva von Berne sitting on a fake iceberg in front of The Igloo, an ice cream parlour shaped like an Inuit dwelling, in Hollywood
Rin Tin Tin sits in a personalised canvas chair. The dog became a massive star, making 26 pictures for Warner Brothers before his death in 1932. At the peak of his career he received some 10,000 fan letters a week
Actress Elizabeth Allan stands in front of the 'Pig Barbecue' food stand in Hollywood, circa 1925
Venice Bathing Beauty Pageant, panoramic photographs of a beauty pageant held on Venice beach in 1925 (top) and 1926
11 May 1927: Formally-dressed men and women sit at tables during the first organisational meeting of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Crystal Ballroom of the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel
In 1928, Janet Gaynor became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in three films: Seventh Heaven, Sunrise and Street Angel
Director William Wellman on the set of the film Wings (1927). It became the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and the only silent film ever to get that award
Circa 1928: Actress Dolores Del Rio with her art director husband Cedric Gibbons, and Fritz Lang at the Rathbone party. Cedric designed the Oscar statuette for the Academy Awards
In 1930, The Broadway Melody became the first sound film to win an Oscar for Best Picture. It also contained a Technicolor sequence, though this has since been lost
An aerial view of Hollywood on 5 November 1929. In the background is the 'Hollywoodland' sign
A 1937 pictorial map called Hollywood Starland, showing where famous actors of the day lived. Click here to see a high-res version of this image
