Throughout the years, Hollywood has maintained its title as entertainment capital of the world. It is a place where stars are born, and even more often, where dreams fall short. From Beverly Hills to the Griffith Observatory, Tinseltown continues to provide a wide variety of activities for all age groups.

For many people, Hollywood is seen as a land of opportunity. It is a place where they can ‘make it big,’ in the city that has brought more famous actors to life than anywhere else. However others view Hollywood as a big facade, a place where everyday people are unrealistically viewed as larger than life.

Hollywood is all it’s cracked up to be and more

The entertainment industry has served as an outlet to the less fortunate for many years. Actors such as Dwayne Johnson, Jim Carrey, Sarah Jessica Parker and Demi Moore who grew up in very low income families have been able to turn their lives around through acting and entertainment. For those mentioned and many others, the opportunities presented only made themselves available because of chances brought about by directors and producers; a majority of which came from Hollywood.

Many of the opportunities towards stardom present themselves at a young age. Aden (last name withheld) has recently found work in TV advertising.

“I was in theater and they asked me if I was interested to go on an audition so I booked it.” Aden said. “Several months later I was really enjoying it and I kept asking my parents if I could act and they finally let me do it. I’m here as an actor for a Jennie-O Turkey commercial. I love being on set, there’s always something to do. I’ve done commercials, I’ve been on tv shows like Conan O’Brien, The League, Sam and Cat, and I’ve done a couple short films.”

Hollywood also offers many jobs in the entertainment industry for those who are not actors or performers themselves. Paul Terris serves as the Uniform Fire Safety Officer on the Jennie-O set.

“My primary job is in the compliance unit, which is the legal liaison of the fire department,” Terris said. “I’m specifically the excessive storage inspector for the city of Los Angeles. I originally joined the fire department as a paramedic, but as I grew older I wanted to be home more and have more regular hours so I worker to be promoted to fire inspector.”

Terris believes sometimes people overreact to marketing strategies of companies.

“There is the glitz and glamour on some shows that have big budgets and that have big popular stars. But there are other shoots that are just ordinary. Like this shoot, It’s nothing out of the ordinary. It’s a commercial to sell brown turkey. People from all over the U.S. and different countries may see this and think, “Wow this is Hollywood.” But in reality this is just a commercial, and they’re selling their product.”

Hector David Jr., an actor and previous star in the, “Power Rangers” series, believes Hollywood is a place where you always have room to grow. David says that by there always being more to accomplish, it allows individuals to be more creative.

“I’m not really at the pinnacle of my career yet, so I can’t really describe what Hollywood is truly like without that much experience,” David said. “But that is what’s great about Hollywood and working in the media industry here. There’s so much room to grow, so much freedom, and so much opportunity to be creative.”

Hollywood is a sham

Often times, Hollywood is made out to be a fantasy land where aspiring celebrities’ dreams always come true. Despite the popularity of this assumption many people have a very different perspective on the entertainment capital of the world. Some individuals believe that Hollywood is not all that it is cracked up to be lacking in genuine personalities, creating a sham of an atmosphere.

The glitz and glamour of Hollywood has actually turned out to break more lives than it makes. Most have heard of the horror stories of child stars such as Lindsay Lohan and Macaulay Culkin who have been ruined by the stardom gifted to them by Hollywood.

Mike Merle from ABC 7 in Glendale feels as though the popular perception of Hollywood is definitely inaccurate and most people are not as they appear to be.

“It’s totally fake, Hollywood is 100% fake,” Mike Merle said,” The thing is you have individuals, they’ll be different every time. Now you have some people that are exactly what they appear to be; they’ll act like a big star, be perceived as a big star, and basically be a big star. And then you have people where it’s like a job to them, they’re more real. But usually you see the former, lots of fake people.”

Kevin (last name withheld) has grown up in the area and believes that the actors and celebrities are fake and like to put on a show for all the cameras.

“It is beautiful but when it comes down to personality it can be fake, especially in Hollywood,” Kevin said. “When the celebrities do come out, they’re fake. Most of them don’t wear make up so you can’t even tell if it’s them or not, but when the cameras come out, ’oh yeah yeah’ and once the camera is off they don’t want to be bothered. When people come it’s more of a reality show and they think that everything is gonna be glitz and glamour but it’s really only this area but outside it’s different.”

Fred Osmund works as a safety officer for music production and believes that Hollywood often times gives aspiring actors a false hope.

“It is nowhere near what people imagine it to be, it is an illusion,” Osmund said. “A lot of people say if I can just come to hollywood I can make it. They spend their last nickel and dime to make it here. They figure that their talent will get them through. They may big a big fish in a little pond at their home but here it’s totally different.  They get here and eventually they realize they can’t sustain themselves and have made a mistake. That’s why we see so many homeless folks in the streets or in the hospitals”

No matter where people are born, they can still choose whether or not to be victims of circumstance. Whether dreams lead them to Hollywood, New York, or anywhere else in between, the pursuit of greatness is what drives the human nature forward. It is in man’s greatest trials and efforts that the finest results are produced.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @jushoots and via email.