Grave of H J Whitley, The Father of Hollywood

Harvey Henderson Whitley rests under a simple marble marker in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. He coined the name Hollywood after meeting a woman on a train who owned an estate in Illinois with that same title. By nineteen hundred and two, he bought the E.C. Hurd ranch and subdivided it into the town that eventually became the world center of cinema. He insisted on building a hotel and installing electric lights, believing his venture would become the city of the stars.