Tag: Wilshire Blvd.

December 6, 2015 /

Bullock’s Wilshire was the first department store designed to accommodate the car. Huge artfully dressed windows faced the street to attract traffic and the entrance was in the back under a porte-cochere where liveried attendants parked your Nash or Packard. Architects John and Donald Parkinson – built 1929 – architectural…

September 11, 2014 /

A favorite of the Rat Pack: A night in 1952: Sammy Davis Jr. recorded a live album here, and Judy Garland staged her comeback in 1958:

September 11, 2014 /

Who danced and dined here? Just about everybody. A couple from the 1930’s: The room was redesigned in 1934 by Mary Jeffras: The crowd could have contained anyone… Joan Crawford, Clara Bow, Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant…

September 11, 2014 /

From 1921 until 1989 the Ambassador Hotel was THE place to be in Hollywood. It housed dignitaries and stars and in-laws, and played hosts to weddings and the Academy Awards. It had a post office, a spa, a barbershop, restaurants, and of course – the famous Cocoanut Grove. It saw…

September 3, 2013 /

A few pictures, long ago, of Wilshire Blvd. and the temple: By ADAM NAGOURNEY Published: August 18, 2013 LOS ANGELES — It was known as the Temple of the Stars: a soaring sanctuary capped by a 100-foot-wide Byzantine dome, built by Hollywood moguls on the eve of the Depression and…

October 5, 2012 /

Even the grocery stores were glamorous – designed by Morgan, Walls & Clements (also designed the Chapman Market) – this firm designed some of the most iconic buildings of early Hollywood (and I promise we’ll get to these landmarks) but for now we’ll roll with my fascination with the mundane…