Hilda Lane - Frozen in Time

Hilda Lane

1929 - 2010

Hilda Lane, the graphic artist and illustrator, was the owner of the Hollywood Sign Company, and consequently knew just about everyone of significance in town. She was a great friend and compatriot when I lived in Laurel Canyon, and was on my team during my presidency of the Lookout Mountain Associates. We had enormous fun fighting for good causes and planning Oktoberfests. She also loved the Wajinga gatherings of East African enthusiasts. She lived alone in a house she and her husband built, that became frozen in time after he died in a private plane crash.

On the hill crest above Laurel Canyon

With a view of the city and sea

There’s a ginger bread cookie house chateaux

Where I’ve been invited for tea.

There are carvings on gable and roof line

Repeated in each window frame,

There’s a garden surrounding this sanctuary

The home of my friend Hilda Lane.

I would just say a word about Hilda

Who lived all alone on the hill,

Her life it was thoughtful and generous

Filled with good deeds and spreading good will.

If a cause ever needed a champion,

To Hilda its advocates climbed,

She would listen intent to the story,

Weigh it carefully, and make up her mind.

Now if Hilda decided she liked you,

And she liked the idea that you brought

She would put all her effort behind it

And together the battle was fought.

I had a fine friend Hilda

An ally who never would wane

And together we vanquished the dragons

That haunted each chosen campaign.

Hilda lived all alone on her hilltop

Since her husband’s plane fell from the sky,

And she kept every nuance in order

No matter how fast years went by.

And nothing was changed in her life style

Not a curtain, a cup or a line

And she drove the same car down the hillside

From her Swiss Chalet frozen in time.

Neil McLeod 10.30.2010