In November and December 1923, the Hollywoodland sign was erected to advertise an upscale hillside housing development. (It was illuminated for the first time on December 8th, lighting up in sequence: Holly—wood—land, and then the whole name.) Given how new and clear the sign looks in this photo, and given that maybe half a dozen houses have popped up in a landscape that now has hundreds of homes, I’m going to guess this photo was taken probably 1925, but let’s go with a cautiously vague “circa mid 1920s.”

Here is what the sign looked like at night:

Advertisement for “Homes for sale in Hollywoodland”, Los Angeles, circa mid 1920s: