Wednesday, April 4, 2007 - Whimsical Bridgework

A gloomy Wednesday in Los Angeles - the light gray haze off the Pacific just wouldn't burn away. The best we could manage this day was a sort of translucent brightness now and then - almost sunshine, at best.  As the weather decided to be vaguely British, it was a day to visit the Shakespeare Bridge over on Franklin Avenue - J.C. Wright (Los Angeles City Engineering Office), 1926.

Its two hundred sixty feet span nothing much at all - just Monon Street in a ravine below. There's no river or anything down there.  On the other hand, the bridge has been used in many a film - including The Wizard of Oz.  You have your little gothic towers and grand arches.  It'll do.

The City of Los Angeles declared the bridge a Historic-Cultural Monument (Number 126) in 1974. Out here, you take your Shakespeare when and where you can get it.

Noted on the way home - at the MacDonald's in the middle of Hollywood. Perhaps they are thespians.

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:

Most of these photographs were shot with a Nikon D70 - using lens (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto, or after 5 June 2006, (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor, 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. They were modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  Earlier photography was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

Footnote -

Further down the ravine from and off to the right from the Shakespeare Bridge is a hidden major studio, Prospect Studios.  This opened in 1915 as The Vitagraph Studio - a silent film factory with two daylight film stages, support buildings and exterior film sets. In 1925 Vitagraph's founder Albert Smith sold the company to the Warner Brothers. In 1927 Warner Brothers shot portions of the first sound film, The Jazz Singer, here, using the Vitaphone process for the sound. Then it became the West Coast headquarters of the American Broadcasting Company, before Disney bought ABC and moved that stuff to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. The link lists everything ever shot here - and what's shooting now.  Photos may follow.  It is not open to the public, although you can be in the audience for the major games shows shot there.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik