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Photography

November 2009

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Friday, November 6, 2009 – Hollywood and Vine

Live here for twenty years and you find yourself drawn back to the corner of Hollywood and Vine, as it is the center of something or other. It was time to drop by again, and anyway, in November you get the long, slanted winter light making things all dramatic.

On the southeast corner, the Taft Building, built in 1923 for A. Z. Taft Jr. by architects Walker and Eisen –

Taft Building, 1923, Walker and Eisen, Hollywood and Vine

On the northeast corner, the Equitable Building, a Gothic Deco commercial tower built in 1929, designed by Aleck Curlett –

Equitable Building, 1929, Aleck Curlett, Hollywood and Vine
Equitable Building, 1929, Aleck Curlett, Hollywood and Vine
Equitable Building, 1929, Aleck Curlett, Hollywood and Vine
Equitable Building, 1929, Aleck Curlett, Hollywood and Vine
Equitable Building, 1929, Aleck Curlett, Hollywood and Vine

A few steps north, the Avalon Hollywood, 1735 North Vine – opened in 1927 as the Hollywood Playhouse, but it was the El Capitan in the forties, then the NBC Radio Theater, then the Hollywood Palace. Rococo hit Hollywood big-time in the late twenties, when the film industry really took off, at the tail end of the silent film era, and a few of these Rococo palaces are still around. This one hosted the first years of "The Lawrence Welk Show" – but now it's "the" hot techno-thump club. And it's scary.

Rococo detail, Avalon Hollywood, 1735 North Vine
Rococo detail, Avalon Hollywood, 1735 North Vine

Directly below these Rococo figures –

Groucho Marx's star, Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1735 North Vine

Across the street is The Capitol Records Building – thirteen stories, designed by Welton Becket, the world's first circular office building, with the tall spike on top that's supposed to make it look like a stack of vinyl singles on a turntable. It was built in 1956, and in 1990 they added the Richard Wyatt mural "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972" – and it's looking particularly surreal in the long November sunlight –

Richard Wyatt, "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972" - 1990 - Capitol Records parking lot, 1750 Vine Street
Richard Wyatt, "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972" - 1990 - Capitol Records parking lot, 1750 Vine Street
Richard Wyatt, "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972" - 1990 - Capitol Records parking lot, 1750 Vine Street
Richard Wyatt, "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972" - 1990 - Capitol Records parking lot, 1750 Vine Street
Richard Wyatt, "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972" - 1990 - Capitol Records parking lot, 1750 Vine Street
Richard Wyatt, "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972" - 1990 - Capitol Records parking lot, 1750 Vine Street
Richard Wyatt, "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972" - 1990 - Capitol Records parking lot, 1750 Vine Street
Richard Wyatt, "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972" - 1990 - Capitol Records parking lot, 1750 Vine Street

A reaction to it all, at the nearby Warner Pacific Theater (1928, G. Albert Lansburgh) –

Face in archway, Warner Pacific Theater, Hollywood

But these days at Hollywood and Vine –

Bee Gal, shop window, Hollywood Boulevard

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 to 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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All text and photos unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - Alan M. Pavlik 

[November 2009] [Cultural Violence] [Getting Real] [The Living City] [Hopper Time] [Only God Knows] [No Access] [Set in Concrete] [Found Objects] [Hollywood and Vine] [November Light] [Water Vessels] [November Skies] [Old Dogs] [1931 Gold] [Western Detailing] [Paint on Brick] [Recycled Temple] [Traffic Stop] [The Minor Details] [That Corner] [November Shadows] [Light Play] [The Melrose Girls] [Local Landscape] [My People] [Fresh Paint] [Observatory Mix] [Where 66 Ends] [Old Santa Monica] [Seasonal Stars] [Hollywood Central] [Basic Hollywood] [Julia and Friends] [Light in the Garden] [Vixens] [Headshots] [The Little Things] [Moon and Stars] [Mixed Media] [Mysterious Whites] [Extreme Hollywood] [Old Hollywood] [Working Late] [Odd Lighting] [That LA Smile] [Little Joy]