Just Above Sunset
March 29, 2006 - The Capitol Records Building












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The Capitol Records Building. Hollywood

 
The Capitol Records Building is a Hollywood landmark - thirteen stories, designed by Welton Becket, the world's first circular office building, still home to a few recording studios.  The tall spike on top makes it look like a stack of vinyl 45's on a turntable.  Maybe that was the idea, maybe not.  It was built in 1956 just north of the intersection of Hollywood and Vine - the consolidated West Coast operations of Capitol Records.  The blinking light on the very top spells out the word "Hollywood" in Morse code.  The Beatles recorded some stuff here, but really it's Frank Sinatra's place.  The basement studio is where he recorded all those albums with Nelson Riddle.

EMI owns it now.  Capitol Records is no more.  EMI has about three hundred people in there, but it's dead.  They want to sell the building so some developer can turn it into condos.  The mayor of Los Angeles is making a fuss - keep it a working studio and industry place - Hollywood should be more than a theme park with expensive housing.  EMI is not impressed.  They're losing money.

This is how it looked, Thursday, March 23, 2006, just after noon.

A minor note - a major studio was across the street doing a shoot. Many trailers for the stars, and trucks full of fancy equipment.  And the catering services had their rigs there, and they were cooking up some stuff that smelled wonderful, Thai barbeque and all that.  Chatted with the security folks.  No free lunch.  Drat.

 
 
The Sinatra Society of America has this in a nearby alley, Frank Sinatra keeping a perpetual eye on the Capitol Records Building.

Frank Sinatra mural, Hollywood

The mural on the side of the Capitol Records Building is falling apart – Gerry Mulligan and the others fade -

Mural, Capitol Records Building, Hollywood

Mural, Capitol Records Building, Hollywood

The condos on the block already under construction - the old Broadway Department Store becomes trendy housing -

Construction near The Capitol Records Building

Capitol Records Building, Hollywood

Capitol Records Building, Hollywood

Have lunch next door here –

Hollywood and Vine window sign...

Capitol Records Building, Hollywood














If you use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me.  

There is a copyright notice at the bottom of this page, of course.

These were shot with a Nikon D70 – lens AF-5 Nikor 18-70mm 1:35-4.5G ED

They were modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0

The original large-format raw files are available upon request.

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Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 - Alan M. Pavlik
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The inclusion of any text from others is quotation for the purpose of illustration and commentary, as permitted by the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law.  See the Legal Notice Regarding Fair Use for the relevant citation.
 
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