TCM Classic Film Festival (April 22-25, 2010)

[pvitari]

The schedule of screenings and other events is now posted.

I'll be tearing my hair out trying to decide what to do when more than one movie I'm dying to see is scheduled at the same time. Not to mention conflicts with panel discussions, appearances, etc.

http://www.tcm.com/festival/#/events/schedule0422

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I just got word from the new job that I get to go the Film Festival (and do some networking to boot), so I'll be there. They are making it hard to decide which screenings to choose. It's really hard.

Looking forward to seeing SueSue there. We are splitting a room at the Roosevelt to avoid commuting from CasaCutter in the Valley each day.

Look for us at the bar. We'll be the two drinking beer and vintage cocktails!

[knitwit45]

Wow! what a JOB!!!! Congrats to all the lucky folks who will be there...we expect DETAILS on a daily basis!!!!!

[pvitari]

I'll be at the Roosevelt too. My usual poison is a diet Coke -- I hope the bar stocks those.

[MissGoddess]

I look forward to reading all about it from you guys, have a great time. I know it will be fun and informative. Wish I could be there.

[movieman1957]

I wonder if they are planning little featurettes, so to speak, during or after the festival. If so let us know if you were caught on camera.

[rudyfan]

http://www.tcm.com/festival/#/passes/index

$20 a pop for each screening from what I saw.

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Hello Film Festival goers!

If you are coming to the TCM Film Festival, I thought you might like a few historical sites to check out, especially if you are coming a day or two earlier or staying a day or two more.

The DeMille Barn: This is the building that DeMille used in the making of The Squaw Man, one of the first films shot in Hollywood. For years the building was located just off of Vine Street near Fountain Ave. Finally, in a last ditch effort to save the historical building, it was moved to its current location across the street from the Hollywood Bowl. Today it is home to Hollywood Heritage, the group dedicated to preserving the historic buildings of Hollywood. There is a small but great museum inside and best of all it's affordable.

You won't be disappointed. It's not that far a walk up Highland from the Hotel Roosevelt. If you are walking to the museum, be sure to take a bottle or two of water to stay hydrated. By the end of April, it will be springtime in the City of Angels.

http://www.hollywoodheritage.org/

(Click on Museum for details about the barn.)

The Hollywood Roosevelt: Home to the first Academy Awards and built on Hollywood Blvd in the 1927, it helped anchor the west end of the Blvd. Located across the street from the famed Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Roosevelt was the classiest hotel back in the day. It's famed lounge, the Cinegrill, often featured up and coming singers who went on to have big careers as well as some of the best crooners of the day. It is said to be haunted.

Grauman's Chinese Theater: the second of renowned theater mogul Sid Grauman's movie palaces on the Blvd. It also opened in 1927 with the premiere of CB DeMille's silent epic, The King of Kings. It's historic neon marquee and Chinese pagoda have graced films from the silent days to today's blockbusters. In the courtyard is the famed Footprints of the Stars. Legend has it that Mary Pickford, Norma Talmedge and Grauman's partner in the theater (and movie star and hubby of Mary Pickford), Doug Fairbanks, sr were the first three footprints enshrined.

Even after Ted Mann bought Grauman's Chinese and renamed it Mann's Chinese, no one ever really called it that. It will always be Grauman's Chinese.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grauman%27 ... se_Theater

Just west of the Chinese (where the Galaxy theaters are (or whatever they are called today) used to be the Garden Court Apartments. This wonderful beaux-arts building was home to many Hollywood stars and up and coming stars back in the day. By the 1970s, the Apartments had become run down and homeless and runaway youths were camping out in the ruins. A fire of unknown nature razed the building in the early 1980s.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 74,00.html

The El Capitan Theater: It originally opened in 1926 as one of the many movie palaces on the Blvd. It opened with the premiere of Charlotte's Revue. The Depression took a toll on the El Capitan but it was the host theater for the premiere of Citizen Kane.

In 1942, it was renamed the Hollywood Paramount with the premiere of Reap the Wild Wind. It was the flagship West Coast theater for Paramount Studios until the Consent Degree took affect.

As Hollywood Blvd ebbed and flowed in the post-war era, so did the El Capitan becoming by the late 1960s a seedy, second and third run theater. In the 1980s, it was bought by the Pacific Theater Chain which didn't respect the property but did appreciate the land underneath.

In 1989, the Walt Disney Studios bought the theater and it underwent a restoration to return it to its former grandeur. Since then, Disney has used the theater to highlight their re-releases of animated classics as well as premiering new animation classics.

Near the El Capitan is the former Masonic Temple where Jimmy Kimmel used to broadcast his show from (may still). The Masonic Temple also showcased a number of punk rock bands back in the late 1970s.

Just east of the El Capitan was a drugstore that featured a minature of Hollywood Blvd circa the 1940s that graced the large show window for years until the 1980s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Capitan_Theater

The Egyptian Theater: Sid Grauman's first foyer into movie palaces on Hollywood Blvd. Grauman had opened a number of movie palaces in downtown Los Angeles along Broadway St. But he had his eye on Hollywood. And the Egyptian would be the first movie palace to open on the Blvd. It cost $800,000 to build and it opened with the premiere of Alan Dwan's wonderful Robin Hood starring the swashbuckling idol of the day, Doug Fairbanks, Sr.

The Egyptian style was part of the craze sweeping the world during the 1920s with the British expeditions of historic Egypt and the discovery of not only King Tut's tomb (two weeks after the opening of the theater) but other historic milestones as well.

It's giant courtyard made it a natural for red carpet entrances. But as with the Chinese and the El Capitan, as the Boulevard's fortunes ebbed and flowed, so did the theaters. It hosted the roadshow version of My Fair Lady and the front of the courtyard was redesigned to include a large mid-century modern pylon sign.

In the late1970s, during the multi-plex craze, the Egyptian opened two smaller theaters located on the east side of the property. Unlike the Warners Hollywood (coming up) theater, the main theater was not cut up to accommodate these theaters. In the 1980s, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai and other movies premiered at the Egyptian.

The theater was badly damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake that hit Hollywood hard (I was living east of the theater on Gower St just above Franklin at the time). The theater was red tagged and for along time preservationists thought the theater would be destroyed.

Instead, the American Cinematheque (long the dream of the two Garys behind Filmex), bought the building from the city of Los Angeles in 1996 for a dollar. The city's one proviso was that the theater be returned to its grandeur as a movie palace.

The Cinematheque undertook a large fund raising effort. The main theater had been badly damaged in the earthquake and in the restoration it was reconfigured to fit a smaller theater in the complex as well.

Be aware, the Cinematheque is a non-profit that is still trying to raise money to help repair the fixes they made to the building when they took over ownership. Don't be surprised by some the crumbling facade. The Cinematheque offers one of the most imaginative film programming in Hollywood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grauman%27 ... an_Theatre

Next door to the Egyptian on the west side of the building is the famed Pig and Whistle Restaurant and Bar.

http://www.pignwhistle.com/

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More Historic Sites in Hollywood:

The Max Factor Building:

Located on Highland just south of Hollywood Blvd. Designed by famed architect, S. Charles Lee (who designed many of the famed movie palaces around the Southwest), this Moderne jewel of a building hosts the make-up salon of one of the most important men in cosmetic history, Max Factor.

In the mid 1980s, the building housed the wonderful Max Factor Museum with many of the artifacts from the salon on display. Unfortunately, the building’s owners, Proctor and Gamble (who you would have thought would have known better), sold the building and the collection to a developer. Luckily, plans for demolition hit a snag when preservationist groups such as Hollywood Heritage, the Art Deco Society and the LA Conservancy began a campaign to save the building.

Instead of demolition, the building became the home of the Hollywood Museum (this is the Museum’s third location in recent years). Previously located further north on the Blvd in the old Christian Science Monitor Bldg and briefly at the Galaxy Theater complex, the Museum has adapted well to the Factor Building. They have even kept some of the artifacts on display including the salons, make-up props and costumes. Don’t be turned off by the more modern look of the Museum’s website, it is worth the opportunity to go inside just to see the interior of the Factor Building.

http://www.thehollywoodmuseum.com/

for more info on S. Charles Lee:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Charles_Lee

The Hollywood Theater:
Now shuttered, this is one of the oldest theaters on the Blvd. It originally saw life as a Nickelodeon that dates back to the early 1910s. In the 1930s, it was equipped for sound and the beautiful neon marquee was added. According to my buddy Alan Hess, it was one of the first theaters in Los Angeles to be designed with side panels that would capture the eye of passing motorists, not pedestrians.

Musso and Frank’s:
6667 Hollywood Blvd.

Featured in TCM Hideaways with Ben Mankiewicz and Tom Brown. The oldest eatery on the Blvd. Opened in 1919, it wasn’t long before the Hollywood crowd discovered its good food and its good alcohol. It was originally named for owners Joseph Musso and Frank Toulet.

The eatery was remodeled in 1937 and hasn’t changed much since then. The beamed ceilings, red leather banquettes, wooden booths with coat racks and a wait and bar staff who look they have been there for years are just some of the reasons to check it out. Our favorite reason, the bartender who looks and talks like “Cuddles” Sakall. Paid parking is available behind the eatery.

The Janes House:
6541 Hollywood Blvd.

One of the things we often forget is that Hollywood Blvd, back in the early days of the 20th Century, was primarily a residential street. While almost all vestiges of that era are long gone, this house which is still located on the Blvd, is a visual reminder of a past long since vanished.

The house was built in 1903 in the Queen Anne/Dutch revival style and the street was then called Prospect Avenue. The home was built for the Janes family that included three sisters who ran a school on the property from 1911-1926, “The Misses Janes School of Hollywood” The sisters were said to have taught the children of everyone from CB DeMille to Carl Laemmle.

The house was occupied until the early 1980s when the last remaining Janes sister was moved to an assisted-living facility. Saved from demolition by Hollywood Heritage, it stands today in the courtyard of a small office and shopping complex.

The big rumor surrounding the Janes sisters is that the author, Henry Farrell, got the idea for his book, “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” from the story of the Janes sisters. Farrell denied the rumor for years.

The Pacific Hollywood Theater
6433 Hollywood Blvd.

Opened in 1927 with the premiere of Glorious Betty starring Conrad Nagle and Dolores Costello (who lived not far from the theater back then). It was originally a Warners Brothers theater and it was, until recently, the largest theater ever built in Hollywood seating 2,700. Originally equipped with Vitaphone equipment to showcase the Warners commitment to that brand.

Atop the building is a radio transmitter. Back in the day, the Brothers Warner owned the nearby radio station, KFWB and had the tower placed on the roof of the theater where it displayed the Warner name.

The architect was G. Albert Lansburgh and the exterior design was Beaux Arts. The interior was opulent Moorish styling with a giant chandelier hanging in the lobby. Also in the lobby is a plaque to brother Sam Warner who was instrumental in moving the brothers into sound films and who died just before the opening of the The Jazz Singer which brought the brothers back from the brink of financial problems.

This is the theater where Carol Burnett worked as a teenager. She and her grandmother lived nearby at the Mayfair Apartments on Wilcox Avenue. At her request, her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is in front of the theater.

In the early 1950s the theater was renovated and reopened as Warners Cinerama. Seating was reduced to 1500. The experiment in Cinerama lasted a little over a year and a half. In 1961, the theater was renovated again to accommodate showing 70mm films in addition to 35mm. 2001 played there for 37 weeks.

In 1968, the theater was sold to the Pacific Theater chain. In the late 1970s, the theater was cut up to accommodate the addition of two smaller theaters upstairs. Despite the desecration, much of the interior still remains intact.

The theater was closed in 1994 due to structural damage caused by the devastating Northridge earthquake. The theater, like the Janes House and Musso and Franks is a Historic- Cultural landmark.

In the early 2000s, the Los Angeles Film School took over the theater and added digital projection. They also cleaned up the theater and restored the main theater to its 1960s size.

Hollywood and Vine
Perhaps one of the most famous intersections in American culture. Back in the 1930s, many of the radio stations such as NBC and CBS, were located on Vine Street. There was a Brown Derby restaurant also located on Vine just south of the Blvd. Today all of that is gone and only CBS Columbia Square remains to remind us of another era. Hollywood and Vine has always sounded much more glamorous than it really was.

The multi-floor Broadway department store was located on the south side of the Blvd near Vine. In recent years, it's roof-top neon sign has been relighted thanks to the generous support of the man who lives in Gary Cooper's wonderful mid-century modern house in Holmby Hills.

The Palace
1755 N. Vine Street

Playing the Palace, Judy did, Bing did, Frank did, most every popular singer of the classic Hollywood era performed here at the Palace. It’s got a Spanish-Baroque exterior and beautiful Art Deco lobby. The Palace opened in 1927 as the Hollywood Playhouse. During the Depression, it was home to the WPA, who staged plays for all. In the 1940s, CBS broadcast various radio shows from the Palace, including Fanny Brice’s Baby Snooks.

In 1942, it was rechristened the El Capitan (not to be confused with the movie theater) and was home to Ken Murray’s Blackout Revues. When the El Capitan closed seven years later, Ken Murray’s production was the longest running show, having played 3844 performances.

The Palace was renovated for television and Bob Hope’s Chesterfield Specials, The Jerry Lewis Show and everybody’s favorite, This is Your Life all originated from the Palace. In 1964, it acquired a new name, the Hollywood Palace and ABC began broadcasting a weekly tv variety show from the place. Hosted by Bing Crosby, the show offered some of the finest entertainment of the day.

Raquel Welch was one of the card-carrying young showgirls promoting “Hollywood Palace” for station breaks.

Merv Griffin took over the studios when the Palace series ended but by the mid-1970s, there was talk of demolition. Luckily, two young entrepreneurs came forward and invested almost $10 million in restoration monies. Rock acts performed, the Palace was featured in Against All Odds , two restaurants were added and a recording studio.

Capitol Records
1750 N. Vine Street

“The House that Frank Built” was designed by famed City of Angels architect Welton Becket. The building is 13 stories tall and stands 150 feet tall. Used to landmark Hollywood and Los Angeles in countless movies and television shows. When it was built, due to earthquake codes, it was the tallest building in Los Angeles for 1955. There are recording studios throughout the building as well as below ground.

Recently the controversy has been with a nearby condo project going in and whether or not the underground construction of a parking lot will disturb the nearby recording studios.

Other Welton Becket buildings include the Music Center, the lost and cherished Pan-Pacific Auditorium, the Cinerama Dome, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (home to the Oscars in The Oscar), the Beverly Hilton Hotel and many others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welton_Becket

Nancy Olson's ( Sunset Blvd) husband, Alan Livingston was the head of Capitol Records for most of its heyday.

South of the Blvd on North Vine:

The Ricardo Montalban Theater
1615 N. Vine Street

Formerly the Huntington Hartford, this theater has quite the past. It opened in 1927 as the Vine Street Theater. By the 1930s, this part of Vine Street was part of Radio Row West and CBS took over operations and it became the CBS Playhouse Theater. The famed Lux Radio Theater was broadcast from here. The show was hosted by a well-known director that most Americans felt they knew personally, C.B. DeMille. Many of the broadcasts were radio versions of well-known movies of that era.

In 1945, following a well publicized dispute with AFRA, the radio performers union, DeMille stepped down as host.

In 1954, the theater was renamed the Huntington Hartford, after the millionaire heir who bankrolled the renovation, and featured well known plays. Helen Hays opened the theater in What Every Woman Knows.

Until the 1990s, the theater continued to bring plays and the occasional silent film with an orchestra accompanyment, to its subscribers and the public. Following the Northridge earthquake, it sustained some damage and was closed.

In 1999, the Nosotros Foundation headed by Ricardo Montalban, bought the theater, which was then called the Dolittle. When it opened in 2004, it was renamed the Ricardo Montalban Theater to honor the man who helped change the way Latinos are portrayed on film and was the driving force behind the Nosotros Foundation.

For all you TCM fans, Robert Osborne's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located in front of the theater.

Across the street, now long gone due to a fire of suspicious nature, was the famed Brown Derby Hollywood.

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Alto-Nido Apartments
1851 N. Ivar Avenue

Home to Joe Gillis at the beginning of Sunset Blvd.. Not much to look at on the inside perhaps, but its California-Spanish exterior has been part of the Hollywood landscape since the early 1950s. The neon sign can be seen from the Blvd.

Parva Sed-Apta Apartments
1817 N. Ivar Avenue

Famed author Nathaniel West, lived in this building known for its odd mix of architectural styles. In 1935 he moved in and began writing his masterpiece, The Day of the Locust while drinking at Musso and Frank’s, hanging out with other Blvd. denizens and picking up ideas for his story. The book, perhaps surprisingly, was not a commercial success on its initial release in 1939. West and his wife, Eileen McKenney, were killed a year later in a car crash. Her sister had written the story, My Sister Eileen and her death was mourned more than his. It would take another ten years before West would finally get his kudos from the literary world. A film was made in the 1970s on his most famous book.

Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel
1714 N. Ivar Avenue

The 11-story HKHotel opened in 1925 and became very popular with the Hollywood crowd. Today, it is perhaps more known for its more macabre history.

In 1936, Harry Houdini’s widow hosted a well-known séance on the roof. Hoping to reach her husband in the great beyond, the story attracted a great deal of press.

In 1943, it was where police broke into the room of starlet Frances Farmer. Claiming she had failed to report to her parole officer, the police dragged Farmer through the lobby while she spewed obscenities every step of the way.

In July 1948, D.W. Griffith, the pioneering silent film director who had done so much to help create American film story telling techniques, died alone in the hotel. He hadn’t directed a film since 1931 and was mostly ignored by the industry he had helped to create. His funeral, however, brought out over 500 industry movers and shakers and celebrities.

In 1962, famed MGM costume designer, Irene, checked into the hotel. She tried to cut her wrists and when that failed, she leapt to her death from the roof. Two days earlier, she had displayed her latest collection at a fashion show in Beverly Hills. Newspaper accounts attribute her depression to the recent death of her husband and business problems.

The Frolic Room
6235 Hollywood Blvd.

With its colorful neon sign out front, this long-time Hollywood bar has held its own over the changing landscape of the Blvd. It makes a cameo appearance in the wonderful LA Confidential where Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey)stops for a drink before a fateful call with destiny.

The Pantages Theater
6233 Hollywood Blvd.

The splendid Art Deco theater opened in 1930 with the premiere of The Floradora Girl starring Marion Davies. The real star though is the theater itself which has been home to the Academy Award ceremonies for many years as well as many red carpet premieres.

The large auditorium, the lounge, the lobby, the restrooms (hint: always, always, always check out the restrooms of movie palaces, you won’t be disappointed), the tiled water fountains and the exit signs. All are a reminder of a time when comfort was more important than the bottom line.

The Pantages was bought by Howard Hughes in 1949 and became a RKO theater. For ten years, it was host to the Academy Awards (1949-1959). Pacific Theaters bought it in 1967. Ten years later they partnered with the Nederlander organization and the theater became home to roadshow versions of well known Broadway plays and musicals. In the 1990s, it was open to performing artists who liked playing in smaller venues.

Since the early 2000s, it has returned to showcasing Broadway touring companies. The roof-top neon sign is a recent addition. However, it has been restored and is still a remarkably beautiful theater.

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Got a car? Other sites worth checking out:

Hollywood Bowl:
2301 North Highland Avenue

Portrayed in films and animation almost since the beginning of film history in Los Angeles, this famous amphitheater has been part of the Hollywood landscape since 1919. Back then, Mrs. Christine Witherill Stevenson, heiress to the Pittsburgh Paint fortune, decided that Hollywood needed some cultural. She formed a group that purchased the Daisy Dell. Their idea was to put on religious plays. Unfortunately, squabbling among group members soon broke out and that idea fell by the wayside. With new partners, Mrs. Stevenson set out to build a place for public concerts and Easter Sunday sunrise services.

The dramatic clamshell concrete band shell was built in 1929. Lloyd Wright, the son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, designed two previous structures. The Bowl has appeared in films that range from the original A Star is Born to Looney Tunes and more.

In the late 1990s, the Bowl underwent restoration and renovation of its famed band shell that still has groups up in arms over the changes to the shell that were made. A museum was added and is open to the public.

John Ford, at one time, had a house that is now where one of the Bowl’s parking lots is located.

For more info:
http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/

Whitley Heights
Off of Camrose south of the Hollywood Bowl
Before there was Beverly Hills, back in the silent film days, Whitley Heights is where the famous stars of Hollywood lived. Francis X. Bushman had a large, opulent house there with the first swimming pool. Rudy Valentino lived in two different houses up there.

The Heights was developed by an early 20th century entrepaneur, H. J. Whitley. He sent his chief architect to Italy to study landscaping and hillside construction. The architect gave Whitley his money’s worth.

Be aware that the streets are very narrow and very windy. Above Whitley Terrace is the home of Richard Barthelmess fronted by pineapple shaped finials.

The Barbara La Marr house is near where Whitley Terrace and Grace Avenue meet. Nearby, the odd shaped house with the round tower belonged to Joseph Schildkraut. Other owners included James Hilton, Rosalind Russell and Beulah Bondi.

Further up Whitley Terrace is very steep Whitley Avenue which often doubles for streets in San Francisco. Just past the intersection is the former home of Jean Harlow with its fortress like garage.
Bushman’s house, called “Topside” was located at the highest point of the hill. “Topside” was torn down in the late 1970s by a developer who planned to put up condos. That spurred the community into action and they sought to get the district historic status and ultimately they succeeded.

For more information and possible tours:
http://www.whitleyheights.com/index.php

High Tower
End of Hightower Drive

Have you often found yourself watching the Robert Altman/Elliot Gould version of The Long Goodbye just to see that weird elevator Gould uses to get to his apartment? Well, it’s a real City of Angels landmark. Built in the 1920s as part of the Hollywood Heights development. The tower conceals the elevator that allows those who live in nearby houses on top of the hill to get down below.

American Legion
2035 North Highland Avenue

Ronald Reagan and Gene Autry were just two of the members of this American Legion post. Built in 1929 by architect Eugene Weston, Jr., the Italian façade made a perfect fit with nearby Whitley Heights.
In the 1980s and 1990s, it hosted a play set in an Italian villa before WWII. It was the perfect location.

First United Methodist Church of Hollywood
6817 Franklin Avenue

Anchoring the northwest corner of Franklin and Highland Avenues, this church has a cinematic past. With its neo-Gothic architecture it has a wood-beamed ceiling that is a smaller version of the one in Westminster Abbey.

The church opened in 1929 and has starred in What Price Hollywood? (Constance Bennett marries her polo-playing boy toy here), One Foot in Heaven and it is here that terrified Angelenos in War of the Worlds sought refuge from the Martian attacks on their city.

Hollywood High:
1541 N. Highland Avenue

Not far from the Roosevelt Hotel. The school opened in 1904 surrounded by bean fields and lemon groves. Those days are long gone but HHSchool is one of the oldest schools in the City of Angels and is still graduating seniors. Numerous attendees have gone on to have careers in Hollywood.

The Nickelodeon Theater
6230 Sunset Blvd

This place has another storied classic Hollywood past. Today it is home to Nickelodeon Studios but back in the day it was the Earl Carroll Theater. The beautiful neon sign declared “through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world” and they did indeed. Yvonne DeCarlo, Sheree North, Marie McDonald and more all got their start here.

In 1948, Carroll and his wife were killed in a plane crash.

In 1953, the theater was reimagined as the Moulin Rouge, with live big-name entertainment. Those of us of a certain age remember it for it’s Queen For a Day tv show which offered as its prize, a wonderful day in Hollywood.

In the late 1960s, the Smother Brothers bought the property and brought Hair to Los Angeles. They renamed the theater the Aquarius to fit in with the theme.

The Cinerama Dome
6360 Sunset Blvd
For over forty years the Dome has anchored this end of Sunset Blvd. It has seen a number of changes in the neighborhood but the Dome has endured. The Dome, designed by Welton Becket, opened in 1963 with It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It offered state of the art Cinerama and stereo sound.

About ten years ago, developers were threatening to tear the Dome down. Thanks to the LA Conservancy’s Modern Committee, Hollywood Heritage, SavetheDome and the citizens of the City of Angels, that didn’t happen. Today, the Dome is the cornerstone of the Arclight’s theater complex.

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RKO Studios
Corner of Gower and Melrose Avenue

There’s a light at the corner. While you are cooling your heels waiting for the light to change and to make a left hand turn, look over and up. See that partial globe coming out of the roofline? That’s all that’s left of RKO Studios. At one time, that Globe stood atop the famous radio tower, just like in the logo. But those days are long gone.
Today it is part of Paramount Pictures.

Paramount Gate
5451 Marathon Street

“I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.” Are you?
This is the famous gate through which Gloria Swanson drove for her meeting with C.B. DeMille. This is probably the most famous studio entrance in Hollywood. The Gate has been immortalized in newsreels, movies and television shows.

Behind the Gate is the last standing studio located in Hollywood (Warners and Universal are in the Valley, Fox is located in Century City, the old MGM lot, now Sony, is in Culver City. Columbia is now owned by Sony.

Jesse Lasky, Sam Goldwyn and CB DeMille all teamed up to make the first feature produced in Hollywood, The Squaw Man (see the original post in this thread about the barn that is now home to Hollywood Heritage.)

Lasky would go on, with Adolph Zukor, to be a major force at Paramount and CB DeMille worked for years at the studio as a producer and a director.

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CBS Columbia Square
Gower St and Sunset Blvd.

Here is where Hollywood the dream factory first started. Where the now deserted (and endangered CBS Columbia Square stands on the north side of Sunset), once stood the first film studio in Hollywood, the Nestor Film Company. NFC was out of Bayonne, NJ and in 1911 they came west to escape the Patent Wars and Edison’s Men.

According to Kevin Brownlow, there was originally an old roadhouse that had fallen victim to the ultra-conservative residents of the little burg. The owner was more than happy to sell his property and if the new owners were in the dreaded movie business (which the residents seemed to really dislike) that was even better. The Nestor group got to work immediately and were soon churning out product. Two brothers, Al and Charles Christie, worked as producer and director of many of the one-reelers. They soon changed the name of the studio to “Christie’s” and continued to produce their “Christie Comedies” on the lot until the 1930s. As the Depression worsened, the Christie brothers began renting out the lot.

In 1936, CBS bought out the Christies’ and tore down their small studio. Work began on Columbia Square, their new radio headquarters on the west coast. At this time, NBC Radio was nearby at Vine and Sunset as well. The International style of architecture that Columbia Square represents is one of the last examples of that architecture style still standing in the City of Angels.

Radio Broadcasts from Columbia Square include: Burns and Allen, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Beulah and The Lucky Strike Hit Parade.

When CBS got involved in television, they just added on. Up until last year, Channel 2, the local CBS affiliate, broadcast all its news from this location. Now all CBS production and news coverage is done from the Radford Lot in Studio City.

Gower Gulch
Southwest corner of Sunset and Gower.
This western style strip mall, anchored by a Denny’s is the former spot of Gower Gulch. The western motif of the strip mall is supposed to be an homage to its former life as Gower Gulch, where various cowboys and Indians would gather, often in costume, every day in hopes of landing work at one of the various small studios that surrounded the area. Those studios were better known as Poverty Row.

Sunset –Gower Studios
Look closely at that long row of windows that go down Gower Street. This is former home of the King of Poverty Row (until Frank Capra worked his magic and the studio went uptown), Columbia Studios. It was here that notorious studio boss, Harry Cohn, held forth terrorizing everyone he could.
The studio was originally called the California Studios and Harry and his brother Jack (and partner, Joe Brandt) bought the place in 1927. They changed the name to Columbia. Despite the various smaller studios surrounding them and despite the “Poverty Row” nickname of the location, the Cohn Brothers, like the Brothers Warner, had big, big dreams.

With Frank Capra’s help, they soon left the Poverty Row moniker behind. Columbia owned the property until 1972 when they moved to Burbank to share the lot owned, curiously enough, by Warner Brothers. By then the brothers Cohn were gone and the brothers Warner had sold their studio to a conglomerate.

Today, Sunset-Gower Studios is a hotbed of television production.

Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles
Just north of Sunset Blvd on Gower Street. Want some of the best Chicken and Waffles this side of the South? This is the place. Drop in, grab a bite. You won’t be disappointed.

Forever Hollywood
6000 Santa Monica Blvd.
This is the old Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery. This is where Hattie McDaniel wanted to be buried but the owner would not allow it because she was African American. Today, the new owners have a tribute to Hattie where Hattie wanted to be buried. Doug Fairbanks, Sr, Tyrone Power, the Cohen Brothers, CB DeMille, this is where the legions of classic Hollywood come to rest. If they aren’t here, they are at Forest Lawn, but most are here.

Rudy Valentino is interred and every year the “woman in black” still appears to mourn his passing.

In the summer, movies are projected on the side of his crypt.

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Other Venues of note:

Mae West’s home:
570 North Rossmore Avenue

Mae wanted to leave near Paramount Studios. As soon as she made it big, she bought this building and lived in the penthouse for almost half a century. The building was built in the late 1920s and is a testament to Art Deco styling.

The décor of her penthouse is legendary. Plush white carpet, white furniture, white appliances, white on white and more white. The interior was designed to show off Ms. West in the best possible light at all times.

Legend has it that at twilight time, a champagne colored light would filter in and frame Ms. West as she sat interviews. They also say Ms. West so hated the look of the building across the street that she bought one, too.

Local historian and broadcaster Huell Howser lives in Mae’s penthouse these days.

Norma Desmond’s Mansion
Northwest corner, Wilshire and Irving Blvds.

The pictures may have gotten smaller but Norma had a mansion that was fit not only for a star of her former stature but for an oil millionaire as well. J. Paul Getty owned the mansion but when he and Mrs. Getty split up, she got the house in the divorce.

Billy Wilder came looking for a mansion near Paramount Studios and Mrs. Getty had one. Only drawback, it didn’t have a swimming pool. Paramount dug a pool and filled it up but it was a Hollywood pool, not for daily use but for motion pictures.

When Warners came looking for a spooky mansion with an empty pool, Mrs. Getty was only too happy to rent the mansion and the empty pool to the filmmakers.

The house was demolished in the late 1950s.

Double Indemnity House
6301 Quebec Street

Murder always smells honeysuckle here in the City of Angels and probably, moreso, at this house. The interiors were all filmed on the Paramount lot but the exterior was filmed here. The owners were recently spotlighted in the LA Times. They have spent a great deal of time restoring the interior as well and are very aware of their house’s place in cinematic history.

Henson Studios
1416 North La Brea Avenue

Before it was the Henson Studios, it was A & M Records and before that it was home to Chaplin Studios. Over the last eighty years the names may have changed but the row of fairy tale Tudor cottages have not changed their exteriors. Built in 1918 by Chaplin, he expanded his empire to include the entire block from DeLongpre to Sunset.

Chaplin is said to have lived on the lot in the large Tudor mansion. The mansion also included a horse stable and tennis court. In the 1970s, the mansion was torn down and a Safeway supermarket was built on its bones.

But inside the Henson Studios, many of the original buildings still stand including the main soundstage (where Chaplin’s footprints are in cement), dressing rooms, carpentry shops and stables.
Chaplin sold the studio in the 1950s. Owners included Red Skelton, American International and CBS. If you were a big fan of Superman with George Reeves, many of the episodes were shot here. Perry Mason with Raymond Burr was another show shot here.

In 1966, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss took over the studios, restored them and made them A&M headquarters.
When Alpert decided to finally sell the property, Jim Henson’s family bought the property and have kept it intact.

The Brown Derby
3377 Wilshire Blvd.

This is the location of the original Brown Derby. Original owners included Gloria Swanson and her husband, Herbert K. Somborn. The restaurant opened the year his divorce from Swanson became final, 1926. There are lots of legends of how the restaurant got its shape, everything from the shape of Gov. Al Smith’s hat to a friend who said “If you know anything about food, you can sell it out of hat.”

There were five locations over the years including one in Beverly Hills, one in Los Feliz and the glamorous one in Hollywood.

It became a landmark along with its signature Cobb Salad.

In the late 1970s, the restaurant was sold to developers who promised to keep the hat. Well, they did. Today it is located in the back of a strip mall next to Japanese restaurant.

Wiltern Theater
3780 Wilshire Blvd.

In the 1970-1980s, preservation efforts to save classic Hollywood sites were battered left and right and many battles were lost before people realized that too many sites were being lost to developers.
One of the amazing stories of that era is the Wiltern Theater.

The theater was designed by G. Albert Landsburgh (Warner Hollywood theater) and famed City of Angels architect S. Stiles Clemens.

The Wiltern was one of the premiere Art Deco movie theaters on the West Coast. It debuted in 1931 and seated 2300. Alexander Hamilton was the premiere and the theater was supposed to be the flagship theater for the brothers Warner.

A special wooden “Bridge of Stars” was erected over Wilshire Blvd when the city decided not to shut down the street for the premiere. The theater, built in the dark days of the Depression, struggled from the beginning. The brothers Warner pulled out and the theater was shuttered. At the end of the Depression, the Warner brothers returned to the theater and operated it until the 1950s.

The 1960s and 1970s weren’t kind to the Wiltern and in the late 1970s, developers were circling. At the almost 11th hour, a white knight came riding up. Developer Wayne Ratkovich worked with local architect, Brenda Levin, to restore the Wiltern.

Today, the Wiltern is still standing and is home to live performances. It’s exterior and interior beauty is still intact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellissier ... rn_Theatre

[Lzcutter]

We are days away from the start of the TCM Film Festival! SueSue is picking me up at the airport on Wednesday and taking me home to see Mr.Cutter (who has to work and may only be at the Festival on Saturday evening, if at all).

But starting Thursday afternoon, SueSue and I will be checking into the Roosevelt and looking forward to meeting any posters from the Oasis and/or TCM City!

We're there for the entire Festival, so don't be afraid to come up and say "hey"!