Nighttime view of Hollywood Blvd from the roof of the Roosevelt Hotel, December, 1953
This nighttime view of Hollywood Blvd was taken from the roof of the Roosevelt Hotel in December 1953. I love how the Boulevard looks like a river of molten light. Although probably getting dingy, the Hollywood Hotel would still have been standing but the night’s shadows would have covered all that, leaving only the gleam of neon and the lingering memories of bygone glory.
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Martin…did you know there was a underground tunnel which was a secret celebrity conduit from the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd. to Yamashiro Restaurant in the Hollywood foothills? I suspect that tunnel also led to the former Grauman’s Chinese Theater as well. I also suspect that tunnel still exists.
Goodness gracious, SweetKali! I must say that I have never heard of a tunnel between the Roosevelt and Yamashiro. But I’ll look into it and get back to you here if I find anything!
I asked someone I know who lived in LA in the ’40s through ’60s and she had this to say:
I doubt it. It would require engineering that was difficult to obtain back in those days and someone would have noticed.
There certainly were hidden tunnels during prohibition but not up into the hills. I can believe a tunnel to theaters but an elevation tunnel going up that degree of grade would require equipment like Mulholland used.
There was rumored to be one from near the beach to a big barn where buggies and horses were kept about a mile west of the hotel during the ‘20s.
That was used to smuggle liquor from boats and was then distributed to various places.
The story may be mixed up with the real tunnels that connected the Roosevelt, Waldorf-Astoria and other hotels in NEW YORK to Grand Central station and to other buildings and were for the elite to move around without being noticed.
http://gothamist.com/2015/04/21/roosevelt_tunnel_grand_central.php#photo-1
The problem with early tunnels in the Hollywood Hills is some unstable terrain. When they were working the pipelines from Hollywood reservoir, there were a lot of problems because of the unstable substrate.
I’m wondering now if perhaps you’re thinking of the tunnel between the Chateau Marmont and The Players on Sunset Blvd…?