Outpost Estates, a small community east of Runyon Canyon, has been inhabited since Don Tomas Urquidez built Hollywood's first adobe in 1853.  By the late 1800s, General Harrison Gray Otis, a veteran of the Civil and Spanish-American wars, had acquired the property and used it as a retreat, naming it the Outpost.  The original adobe remained on the property as Otis built a new house as well as a clubhouse nearby.

After Otis' death, the land and structures were purchased by Hollywood producer Jesse Lasky who did nothing with the property before selling it to real estate developer Charles E. Toberman in 1924.  Keeping the Outpost nickname, he divided up the land into two-acre plots centered around Outpost Drive.  To attract prospective buyers to his lots, he put up the Outpost sign.  At 30 feet tall, the bright red sign, still somewhat of a novelty then, was one of the largest neon signs anywhere.  Shining every night on the hillside behind Graumann's Chinese theater, it was more noticeable than the white Hollywoodland sign in the dark of night.

The neighborhood attracted many of the Hollywood elite of the 1920s and 30s who built grand homes with courtyards and fountains and the tile roofs that Mr. Toberman required as a caution against brushfires.  The Outpost sign continued to shine against its Hollywoodland rival until World War II.  Fears of the sign acting as a beacon to airborne bombers caused it to be dismantled and forgotten, until the rusted remains were found by two hikers in 2002.

Bob Eicholz and Steve Scott, Outpost residents hiking near Runyon Canyon, realized what they had found and contacted Huell Howser about the find.  Mr. Howser produced a 30 minute "Visiting...With Huell Howser" episode about the sign, its history and remarkable rediscovery.  Attempts to get the remains of the sign, largely intact due to its sturdy construction, declared a historic-cultural monument failed because the sign is no longer standing.

What about the adobe built by Don Tomas?  It was torn down along with the vacation home and clubhouse of Mr. Otis by Mr. Toberman when he acquired the property.  The site of the adobe is currently occupied by Bob Barker's home on the southwest corner of Hillside and Outpost and is a city historical-cultural monument.

Source:  Los Angeles Times, Hidden Hollywood sign uncovers history
By Cecillia Rasmussen, 17 February 2008

Source:  OutpostEstates.com

Source:  Wikipedia, Outpost Estates