Tinseltown is a slang term for Hollywood, California, the capital of the American film industry. Tinsel is a shiny material usually used in Christmas decorations, it is gaudy but has no real substance. Hollywood is often depicted as a place that is beautiful on the surface, but underneath, is a harsh and ugly place. The term Tinseltown was first used in the mid-1970s, at a time when independent studios and maverick producers and directors were on the rise, and film studios were losing their power to control the entertainment industry.
Examples
A spanking new $140m gallery, a revitalised “museum mile”, old artists returning, young ones moving here for the first time, behemoths like Netflix expanding: it added up to a banner year for a metropolis long derided as a vapid Tinseltown. (The Guardian)
In Mulholland Drive, on the other hand, David Lynch transplants his Blue Velvet ironic sincerity to Tinseltown and crafts the best Hollywood horror story since Billy Wilder was in his prime. (The Pitch Weekly)
Greatest Show On Earth Comes To Tinseltown For The 2nd GOP Debate (The Huffington Post)
Whether or not Bryan Cranston wins the Best Actor Oscar in February, this biopic will surely prompt a stream of sanctimonious recollection in Tinseltown about Dalton Trumbo, the irascible and prolific screenwriter who was in the front rank of the Hollywood Ten. (The New Zealand Herald)
The Hollywood version that would play well in the Clippers’ Tinseltown after the Bulls’ nerve-wracking 83-80 victory would be Derrick Rose ditching his face mask for the first time all season in the second half, when he scored nine of his 11 points. (The Chicago Tribune)