As the Hollywood sign turns 100, the Mail gets exclusive access to get up close and personal with the dazzling 40ft tall letter on a journey that shows LA is as weird and crazy as ever

Not many people can boast of climbing the Hollywood sign. The nine white corrugated iron letters are not open to the public and stand a whopping 13 meters high on Mount Lee, overlooking the city of Los Angeles.

Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Big Ben in London, the sign shows you where you are – only it says so literally with American directness.

This year the monument celebrates its 100th anniversary and therefore I have special permission to visit it. I admired it from a distance, next to the rooftop pool of the chic Thompson Hollywood Hotel. Now I’m standing at the security fence above the sign, where the brilliant chairman of the Hollywood Sign Trust, Jeff Zarrinnam, lets me in.

Luckily I don’t get pulled over by a police helicopter in Los Angeles and have to pay a $10,000 fine. For safety we hold on to a rope and climb down the steep and slippery slope until we reach the mighty H. From here you can easily walk around from letter to letter and admire the sheer size and brilliant white of the steel, which recently received a birthday paint job.

“Can I get on it?” I ask After a short silence, Mr. Zarrinnam agreed. As I climb to the back of the second L, my head pops out and I look down at the vastness of LA. Los Angeles, which includes Hollywood, has always been the city of the new. At the beginning of the 20th century, it became the home of the new medium of film. Since then, smart youngsters come here to try out new characters on screen and take on new faces thanks to the skills of make-up artists and surgeons.

Sometimes her dreams turned into nightmares. Consider for a moment the British stage actress Peg Entwistle, who was so depressed by her failure in films that she scaled the H from the Hollywood sign and jumped ship in 1932.

The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. are also celebrating their 100th anniversary. Now LA is getting old for the first time. The blockbuster Barbie starring Margot Robbie is the most successful film in the history of Warner Bros.

But over its time, the movie studio gave us classics like “Public Enemy,” “Casablanca” and “Dirty Harry.” All this will be celebrated in a special 100th anniversary exhibition as part of the public studio tour.

When “Casablanca” was filmed in 1942, lead actor Humphrey Bogart lived with his wife Mayo Methot in West Hollywood. The relationship between them was so stormy that the couple, who were both heavy drinkers, became known as “the feuding Bogarts”. Dorothy Parker joked that her neighbors were “lulled to sleep by the sound of breaking china.”

There are no signs of such a struggle as I explore the leafy back streets where they lived, driven by fashion designer Mia Latter in her 1980s Mercedes and her Chihuahua Ginger.

British-born Mia was always destined to become a Hollywood icon. Now she makes clothes for other icons such as It girl Angelyne and rock star Troy Van Leeuwen. In our search for old Hollywood, we follow the advice of award-winning filmmaker Whit Stillman, who knows a thing or two about Tinseltown.

The Hollywood sign celebrates its 100th anniversary this year

Thomas is strictly prohibited from entering the Hollywood sign and is given special permission to take the photo above

Here Thomas is seen putting the backs of the “second L” together to form the Hollywood sign

“One of the great things about LA is that it’s so big,” he says. “There are not the same land premiums as in other cities. There is building land, so everything remains as it was. “Certain neighborhoods are really pre-war Hollywood.”

However, the Bogarts’ house has been replaced by tall buildings. Instead, Mia and I find the address on North Hayworth Avenue where “Great Gatsby” author F. Scott Fitzgerald suffered a heart attack in 1940 after years of drinking.

Whatever the scenes, the soft gray mansion looks peaceful as we pull up in Mia’s convertible – more West Hampstead than West Hollywood.

From here we go to Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It turns out to be one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world. The lush lawns are dotted with graves. The paths are lined with swaying palm trees with giraffe necks.

Deep in the heart of the mausoleum we find the grave of Rudolph Valentino, one of Hollywood’s first heartbreakers. The new tribute includes an impassioned letter in French declaring his love for the actor. “Impressive appeal from beyond the grave,” Mia remarked admiringly. “It’s a dirty corpse.”

We also include the graves of Burt Reynolds and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. There is also a poignant memorial to Toto, the Cairn Terrier who accompanies Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

Swish: “In the tilting mansions of Hollywood, it’s easy to feel completely at sea,” says Thomas. Above: Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills

Thomas visits Hollywood Forever Cemetery with fashion designer Mia Latter, pictured

These are the oases of a city that, while dedicated to beauty, is often conspicuously unattractive. On some streets you could be in the suburbs of Naples or Beirut.

“It can be blurry if you don’t go to the right places,” admits Eric, my guide on a morning bike ride. He takes me to the nicer places, like the picturesque farmers market (established in 1934) in La Brea County. Here I am mocking up a chocolate covered honey cake at Littlejohn’s English Toffee House. Not much different than a crunchie.

A trip to Dodgers Stadium is worth it, but the baseball rules are confusing. I am surprised to see an ad promoting the pseudo-religion Scientology. Doesn’t everyone know it’s for fools?

Between the leaning mansions of Hollywood with their roses and barbed wire, it’s easy to feel you’re by the sea. One night I left my second LA hotel, the stylish Delphi, and accompanied Mia to a glamorous reception for filmmaker John Waters at the Academy Museum.

Thomas reveals that anyone can get a star in the Hollywood Hall of Fame if they are willing to spend $75,000. Pictured: An example of a star on the iconic walkway

This one is titled “Pope of Trash,” a tribute to Waters’ penchant for making films that range from the eccentric (1988’s Hairspray) to the downright disgusting, like “Pink Flamingos” (1972).

Mia dazzles in a homemade burgundy trouser suit embroidered with a cactus and horseshoe motif. I wear dusty sneakers.

There are two famous drag queens in the crowd, says Mia on television. There is also a country singer named Orville Peck, whose face is hidden behind a fringe mask.

I finally see someone I recognize. This is actress Jodie Foster. She looks great, although surprisingly small.

“What a wonderful evening!” says Waters (77) into the microphone. “It is the triumph of joyous bad taste.”

After a short silence, he cheerfully adds, “And I don’t even have to die!”

“In the early 20th century [LA] became the home of the new medium of film,” writes Thomas. Above: Universal Studios

Warner Bros. celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, Thomas reveals, adding that Barbie is the highest-grossing film in the studio’s history.

Another highlight of my visit is the messy hot dog I get later that evening at Pink’s, a fast food restaurant founded in 1939.

However, the most venerable establishment in Hollywood is the luxurious Musso & Frank Grill, built in 1919. Raymond Chandler wrote “The Big Sleep” in one of the red booths. At the bar, the actor Steve McQueen tried to argue with the writer Charles Bukowski.

The owner, Mark Echeverria, cheerfully tells me that he will never replace the faded wallpaper that covers the top of the walls in the older of the two dining rooms.

“There’s Humphrey Bogart’s cigar smoke in the air,” he laughs.

Outside, on Hollywood Boulevard, the street is paved with stars.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame, which began in 1960, now honors some 2,700 celebrities with its star-shaped plaques. I see the 1980s star Rob Lowe in the lead role of Dr. with actor John Barrymore, a big name in the 1920s. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

In theory, anyone can get a star as long as you’re willing to spend $75,000 for it.

In general, of course, the assumption is that it’s your fans’ job to foot the bill, not yours. But there is one man who is known to have bought himself a star of his own: a certain Donald Trump.