Saturday, November 7, 2009

virtual visit to Hollywood

While in Hollywood you'll want to check out some of the places the stars shop and eat. Even though the price of a chili dog has risen to $2.50 from the original $ .10 one place that everyone should be able to afford to eat is Pink's Hot Dog Stand near the corner of Melrose and La Brea.
There's always a line at this restaurant that was founded by Paul & Betty Pink in 1939 as a hot dog wagon. It seems that every publication from the New York Times to Condé Nast Traveller has touted the virtues of this unassuming eatery. Visit Pink's web site to see photos of stars from Bill Cosby to Celine Dion, Snoop Dog and James Caan who've all dined here.
Pink's Hot Dog Stand
A fitting place to end this virtual visit to Hollywood would be at the Hollywood Forever Memorial Park. An old fashion cemetery that is the final resting place of many Hollywood actors. It's so picturesque that it has been used as a background location for Hollywood movies such as LA Story with Steve Martin and Hot Shots with Charlie Sheen. The oldest cemetery in Hollywood it was established in 1899.
Celebrity graves of over 100 stars including such household names as Rudolph Valentino, Tyrone Power, Nelson Riddle, Peter Lorre, Eddy Nelson, Jayne Mansfield and both Douglas Fairbanks and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. are alongside other Hollywood luminaries including Harry Cohn who was head of Columbia Pictures and film producers such as Cecil B. DeMille. Legendary Gangster Bugsy Seigel is here also as is Harvey Wilcox—founder of Hollywood—buried next to his wife who suggested the name
Hollywood Forever Memorial Park

Hollywood studios

Paramount Pictures Studio in Hollywood
Many Hollywood studios are nearby such as Paramount Pictures—the longest-running movie studio or Tribune Studios on Sunset Boulevard and The Jim Henson Company on La Brea Avenue.
Tribune Entertainment StudiosTribune Entertainment Studios was formerly home to Warner Bros Pictures.
Built in 1919, “The Jazz Singer” with Al Jolson—the first “talkie” was filmed here in 1927. Warner Bros classics including “Merrie Melodies,” and “Loony Tunes” were filmed here. Tribune Broadcasting now resides in the building with the Greek Revival facade. One of the twenty-six TV stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting—which also owns the Los Angeles Times—is located on the same lot.
KTLA Television tower
KTLA Television—Channel 5 in Los Angeles—was the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi. Bob Hope hosted its inaugural broadcast in 1947. Pioneer of many broadcasting firsts such as live, on-the-spot news coverage, broadcasting from a helicopter and the mobile news van the KTLA studio was owned for many years by Gene Autry the singing cowboy.
Jim Henson Company purchased the historic Charlie Chaplin studio in 2000. A statue above the entrance gate of Kermit the Frog holding a cane and dressed in Chaplin's “Little Tramp” attire plays homage to the silent film star and Hollywood legend.
Jim Henson Company - Kermit as Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin began construction of the original studio in 1917. It opened the next year. “The Goldrush,” “Modern Times” and other Hollywood classic films were created here.
Several companies have owned the studio and produced TV shows including the “Superman” series, The Red Skelton Show and the Perry Mason series. In 1966 Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss' A&M Recording Company and Tijuana Brass Enterprises, Inc. converted the sound stages and Chaplin's swimming pool into a recording studio.
The studio was named a historical cultural monument in 1969.
The Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl—with a seating capacity of just under 18,000 is one of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world. It is the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra who were also the first to play there in July of 1922. In addition to the Philharmonic many world-renowned musicians-from the Beatles to Itzhak Perlman and Beverly Sills have graced the stage.
Other activities including commencement exercises for Hollywood High School and numerous outdoor plays and pageants have utilized the Hollywood Bowl. A production of Julius Caesar in 1926 made use of the entire canyon including troops encamped on the hillside and temples, bridges and aqueducts designed by Lloyd Wright the eldest son of Frank Lloyd Wright. Lloyd Wright is also known locally as the architect of Wayfarers Chapel the Swedenborgian church in Palos Verdes.

Hollywood and Vine streets

Hollywood Boulevard and Walk of Fame
The Walk of Fame—centered on Hollywood and Vine streets—is where over 2200 celebrities have each been recognized with a marble-encased brass star in the sidewalk.
One of the best ways to see the most and miss the least of Hollywood is to take one of the tours that depart from this area. Movie Stars' Homes tours, Hollywood Trolley and Hollywood Double Decker Tours and others provide narrated transportation to the sights you won't want to miss.
Capitol Records Building in HollywoodAlong the way you'll see Hollywood landmarks such as the Capitol Records Building—visible from the historic intersection of Hollywood and Vine. Capitol Records was the first record company based on the west coast.
John Lennon's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is just outside the Capitol Records building, appropriate as The Beatles were one of the acts promoted by Capitol Records along with the Beach Boys, Duran Duran, Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt and Frank Sinatra.
Your tour guide might tell you—as mine did—that the world's first circular office building was designed to resemble a stack of 45 RPM records and was recently instantly renovated to resemble a stack of CDs—at zero cost.

Historic Hollywood Boulevard

The Hollywood sign from Griffith Park
The 50-foot Hollywood sign is visible from almost anywhere in Hollywood but for an up close view go to Griffith Park.
Originally built as a giant ad for real estate development the “Hollywoodland” sign was erected in 1923.
The signs history paralleled that of Hollywood itself when a young movie actress who jumped to her death from the top of the 4-story 'H' in 1932 linked the towns name to failed hopes as Hollywood became the land of broken dreams.
Although named an official historical monument (Los Angeles Cultural-Historical Monument #111) the sign suffered from neglect and vandalism.
It was eventually restored and now serves as a symbol of not only the physical place that is Hollywood, but also the entire film and entertainment industry including the movie stars that are celebrated throughout the city.
The Hollywood & Highland Entertainment Center on Hollywood Boulevard was designed and built to frame a view of the famous Hollywood sign.
Historic Hollywood Boulevard is the center of Hollywood and it is here that you can visit Grauman's Chinese Theatre where legendary Hollywood stars foot prints are immortalized in cement, the Kodak Theatre—current home of the Academy Awards—and many more entertainment era icons.


Monday, October 19, 2009


Today's Hollywood Sign.

Hollywood Boulevard, taken from the Kodak Theatre.

Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States, situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles.[1] Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonymy of American cinema. The nickname Tinseltown refers to the glittering, superficial nature of Hollywood and the movie industry.[2] Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood,[3] but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production and lighting companies, remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.

Many historic Hollywood theaters are used as venues and concert stages to premiere major theatrical releases and host the Academy Awards. It is a popular destination for nightlife, and tourism and is home to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Although it is not the typical practice of the city of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods, Hollywood is a recent exception. On February 16, 2005, California Assembly Members Goldberg and Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as though it were independent. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. This bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor on August 28, 2006, and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border can be loosely described as the area east of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Boulevard, and Barham Boulevard, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. This includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz—two areas that were hitherto generally considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos. The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 167,664 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.[4]

As a portion of the city of Los Angeles, Hollywood does not have its own municipal government, but does have an official, appointed by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who serves as an honorary "Mayor of Hollywood" for ceremonial purposes only. Johnny Grant held this position for decades, until his death on January 9, 2008.[5][6]


History

In 1853, one adobe hut stood on the site that became Hollywood. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished in the area with thriving crops. A locally popular etymology is that the name "Hollywood" traces to the ample stands of native Toyon or "California Holly", that cover the hillsides with clusters of bright red berries each winter. But this and accounts of the name coming from imported holly then growing in the area, are not confirmed. The name Hollywood was coined by H. J. Whitley,[7] the Father of Hollywood. He and his wife, Gigi, came up with the name while on their honeymoon in 1886, according to Margaret Virginia Whitley's memoir. The name "Hollywood" was used by H. H. Wilcox when he laid out his 160 acre farm in 1887. He had learned of the name from his neighbor Ivar Weid and wanted to be the first to record it on a deed.

By 1900, the community then called Cahuenga had a post office, newspaper, hotel and two markets, along with a population of 500. Los Angeles, with a population of 100,000 people at the time, lay 10 miles (16 km) east through the citrus groves. A sisdf single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent and the trip took two hours. The old citrus fruit packing house would be converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood.


Glen-Holly Hotel, first hotel in Hollywood, at the corner of what is now Yucca Street. It was built by Joakim Berg, a famous artist backs in the 1890s.

Hollywood Hotel 1905.

The intersection of Hollywood and Highland 1907.

The first section of the famous Hollywood Hotel, the first major hotel in Hollywood, was opened in 1902, by H. J. Whitley, the President of the Los Pacific Boulevard and Development Company of which he was a major shareholder. He was eager to sell residential lots among the lemon ranches then lining the foothills. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue. Still a dusty, unpaved road, it was regularly graded and graveled. His company opened and developed the first residential area the Ocean View Tract.

Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. Among the town ordinances was one prohibiting the sale of liquor except by pharmacists and one outlawing the driving of cattle through the streets in herds of more than two hundred. In 1904, a new trolley car track running from Los Angeles to Hollywood up Prospect Avenue was opened. The system was called "the Hollywood Boulevard." It cut travel time to and from Los Angeles drastically.

By 1910, because of an ongoing struggle to secure an adequate water supply, the townsmen voted for Hollywood to be annexed into the City of Los Angeles, as the water system of the growing city had opened the Los Angeles Aqueduct and was piping water down from the Owens River in the Owens Valley. Another reason for the vote was that Hollywood could have access to drainage through Los Angeles´ sewer system. With annexation, the name of Prospect Avenue was changed to Hollywood Boulevard and all the street numbers in the new district changed. For example, 100 Prospect Avenue, at Vermont Avenue, became 6400 Hollywood Boulevard; and 100 Cahuenga Boulevard, at Hollywood Boulevard, changed to 1700 Cahuenga Boulevard.

Motion picture industry


Nestor Studio, Hollywood's first movie studio, 1913.

Filmmaking in the greater Los Angeles area preceded the establishment of filmmaking in Hollywood. The Biograph Company filmed the short film A Daring Hold-Up in Southern California in Los Angeles in 1906.[8] The first studio in the Los Angeles area was established by the Selig Polyscope Company in Edendale, with construction beginning in August 1909.[9]

In early 1910, director D. W. Griffith was sent by the Biograph Company to the west coast with his troupe, consisting of actors Blanche Sweet, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore and others. They started filming on a vacant lot in downtown Los Angeles. The company decided to explore new territories and traveled five miles (8 km) north to the little village of Hollywood, which was friendly and enjoyed the movie company filming there. Griffith then filmed the first film ever shot in Hollywood called In Old California, a one-reel melodrama set in Mexican colonial-era California in the 1800s. The movie company stayed there for months and made many, many films before returning to New York.

The first studio in Hollywood was established by the New Jersey-based Centaur Co., which wanted to make westerns in California. They rented an unused roadhouse at 6121 Sunset Boulevard at the corner of Gower, and converted it into a movie studio in October 1911, calling it Nestor Studio after the name of the western branch of their company.[10] The first feature film made specifically in a Hollywood studio, in 1914, was The Squaw Man, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar Apfel,[11] and was filmed at the Lasky-DeMille Barn amongst other area locations.

By 1915, the majority of American films were being produced in the Los Angeles area.[12]


Hollywood movie studios, 1922.

Four major film companies — Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO and Columbia — had studios in Hollywood, as did several minor companies and rental studios.

1920s-1940s

By 1920, Hollywood had become world famous as the center of the United States film industry.

From the 1920s to the 1940s, a large percentage of transportation to and from Hollywood was by means of the red cars of the Pacific Electric Railway.

Modern Hollywood

On January 22, 1947, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, KTLA, began operating in Hollywood. In December of that year, The Public Prosecutor became the first network television series to be filmed in Hollywood. And in the 1950s, music recording studios and offices began moving into Hollywood. Other businesses, however, continued to migrate to different parts of the Los Angeles area, primarily to Burbank. Much of the movie industry remained in Hollywood, although the district's outward appearance changed.

In 1952, CBS built CBS Television City on the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Beverly Boulevard, on the former site of Gilmore Stadium. CBS's expansion into the Fairfax District pushed the unofficial boundary of Hollywood further south than it had been. CBS's slogan for the shows taped there was "From Television City in Hollywood..."

During the early 1950s the famous Hollywood Freeway was constructed from Four Level Interchange interchange in downtown Los Angeles, past the Hollywood Bowl, up through Cahuenga Pass and into the San Fernando Valley. In the early days, streetcars ran up through the pass, on rails running along the central median.

The famous Capitol Records building on Vine St. just north of Hollywood Boulevard was built in 1956. The building houses offices and recording studios which are not open to the public, but its circular design looks like a stack of 7-inch (180 mm) vinyl records.

The now derelict lot at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Serrano Avenue was once the site of the illustrious Hollywood Professional School, whose alumni reads like a Hollywood Who's Who of household "names". Many of these former child stars attended a "farewell" party at the commemorative sealing of a time capsule buried on the lot.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame was created in 1958 as a tribute to artists working in the entertainment industry and the first embedded star on the walk—honoring actress Joanne Woodward -- was set in place on February 9, 1960. Honorees receive a star based on career and lifetime achievements in motion pictures, live theatre, radio, television, and/or music, as well as their charitable and civic contributions.

In 1985, the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places protecting important buildings and ensuring that the significance of Hollywood's past would always be a part of its future.

In June 1999, the long-awaited Hollywood extension of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail Red Line subway opened, running from Downtown Los Angeles to the Valley, with stops along Hollywood Boulevard at Western Avenue, Vine Street and Highland Avenue.


The Kodak Theatre.

The Kodak Theatre, which opened in 2001 on Hollywood Boulevard at Highland Avenue, where the historic Hollywood Hotel once stood, has become the new home of the Oscars.

While motion picture production still occurs within the Hollywood district, most major studios are actually located elsewhere in the Los Angeles region. Paramount Pictures is the only major studio still physically located within Hollywood. Other studios in the district include the aforementioned Jim Henson (formerly Chaplin) Studios, Sunset Gower Studios, and Raleigh Studios.

While Hollywood and the adjacent neighborhood of Los Feliz served as the initial homes for all of the early television stations in the Los Angeles market, most have now relocated to other locations within the metropolitan area. KNBC began this exodus in 1962, when it moved from the former NBC Radio City Studios located at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street to NBC Studios in Burbank. KTTV pulled up stakes in 1996 from its former home at Metromedia Square in the 5700 block of Sunset Boulevard to relocate to Bundy Drive in West Los Angeles. KABC-TV moved from its original location at ABC Television Center (now branded The Prospect Studios) just east of Hollywood to Glendale in 2000, though the Los Angeles bureau of ABC News still resides at Prospect. After being purchased by 20th Century Fox in 2001, KCOP left its former home in the 900 block of North La Brea Avenue to join KTTV on the Fox lot. The CBS Corporation-owned duopoly of KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV moved from its longtime home at CBS Columbia Square in the 6100 block of Sunset Boulevard to a new facility at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. KTLA, located in the 5800 block of Sunset Boulevard, and KCET, in the 4400 block of Sunset Boulevard, are the last broadcasters (television or radio) with Hollywood addresses.

Additionally, Hollywood once served as the home of nearly every radio station in Los Angeles, all of which have now moved into other communities. KNX was the last station to broadcast from Hollywood, when it left CBS Columbia Square for a studio in the Miracle Mile in 2005.

In 2002, a number of Hollywood citizens began a campaign for the district to secede from Los Angeles and become, as it had been a century earlier, its own incorporated municipality. Secession supporters argued that the needs of their community were being ignored by the leaders of Los Angeles. In June of that year, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors placed secession referendums for both Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley on the ballots for a "citywide election." To pass, they required the approval of a majority of voters in the proposed new municipality as well as a majority of voters in all of Los Angeles. In the November election, both referendums failed by wide margins in the citywide vote.

Hollywood is served by several neighborhood councils, including the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council (HUNC) [2] and the Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council. [3] These two groups are part of the network of neighborhood councils certified by the City of Los Angeles Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, or DONE. [4] Neighborhood Councils cast advisory votes on such issues as zoning, planning, and other community issues. The council members are voted in by stakeholders, generally defined as anyone living, working, owning property, or belonging to an organization within the boundaries of the council. [5]

Revitalization

After many years of serious decline, when many Hollywood landmarks were threatened with demolition,[13] Hollywood is now undergoing rapid gentrification and revitalization with the goal of urban density in mind. Many developments have been completed, typically centered on Hollywood Boulevard. The Hollywood and Highland complex (site of the Kodak Theater), has been a major catalyst for the redevelopment of the area. In addition, numerous fashionable bars, clubs, and retail businesses have opened on or surrounding the boulevard, returning Hollywood to a center of nightlife in Los Angeles. Many older buildings have also been converted to lofts and condominiums, Cosmo Lofts was the first live/work loft development in the Hollywood area. A W Hotel is currently under construction at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine.