Two -

Hollywood Tower Apartments
(Cramer & Wise - 1929)
6200 Franklin Avenue

Actor George Raft is said to have built the former La Belle Tour as a residential hotel; through the years it became progressively seedier, but has recently been restored and is now an apartment building, still with a wide (if not exclusive) range of above and below the line show-biz types. Its unique “V” shape, rumor has it, was to strengthen the then-hotel as a precaution against earthquakes. 

Three –

Four –

Wolf’s Lair
(1927)
2869 Durand Drive

Four –

Celebrity Centre
(Arthur E. Harvey - 1927)
5930 Franklin Avenue

The former Chateau Elysées was built as a luxury apartment hotel by Eleanor Ince, widow of famed director Thomas Ince.  A long-standing rumor has the building financed by William Randolph Hearst.  But Ince’s family insists that the money came from the sale of another Ince property.  In any event, the building – a seven-story 17th-century Normandy castle replica – was an Industry playground for years, but thoroughly run down when purchased in 1972 by the Church of Scientology, who painstakingly restored the property over the last 20 years.  Dying trees were brought back to life; tiles and other building materials were imported from France and a landscape architect sent to the there for inspiration and to ensure accuracy. 

Several floors are now hotel rooms (for Church members only) with the top stories office space. Free guided tours are available to the general public…  Non-members are invited to the lovely French rococo-styled Renaissance Restaurant, where Sunday brunch is a specialty.