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Thursday, November 13, 2008 – Lower Hollywood
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Upper Hollywood – Hollywood and Vine, Sunset and Vine, the Kodak and Chinese theaters – is all movie and television stuff for the tourists. The working studios, the prop houses, and the postproduction outfits, are elsewhere, many down in the flats along the east end of Santa Monica Boulevard, surrounded by seedy strip malls and auto repair shops. But that's where you find the Theater District – you know, actual people on stage, acting, in person, in front of other actual people. It happens, even out here. Sometimes you have to drop by to see what's up.
And you start by fortifying yourself with strong coffee at the local café.
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What is with that dog on the roof right across the street, and the comedy about Mexican wresting?
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Ah! A new production of Aristophanes' Lysistrata just down the street –
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You know the deal with this –
Led by the title character, Lysistrata, the story's female characters barricade the public funds building and withhold sex from their husbands to end the Peloponnesian War and secure peace. In doing so, Lysistrata engages the support of women from Sparta, Boeotia, and Corinth. All of the other women are first against Lysistrata's suggestion to withhold sex. Finally, they agree, swearing an oath of allegiance by drinking wine from a phallic shaped flask, as the traditional implement (an upturned shield) would have been a symbol of actions opposed to the aims of the women.
Yeah, whatever – and just around the corner, not Lysistrata –
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Local color, and in this neighborhood, somehow symbolic –
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Of course, with all the theaters down here, and the studios – Paramount, Raleigh, Television Center Studio – and all the support businesses and the original Hollywood Canteen – this has always been a power center –
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If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back this site.
Technical Note:
These photographs were taken with a Nikon D200 – the lenses used were AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or AF Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto. The high-resolution photography here was modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 software.
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