This photo is as Hollywood as you can possibly get. It was taken at the top end of Vine Street looking south past the Capitol Records building on the night of November 2, 1963. That was the night of the grand opening of the Cinerama Dome with the premiere of “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” I counted 25 different searchlights. They must have rented every available one in LA!

Al M. says: “Searchlights of the era generally rotated and “held” at the end of their swing on two different axes. What I believe you’re actually seeing here is a long exposure of several lights at different points in their swing, as the portions of their rotations where they pause would register during a long exposure, whereas the beam in motion would not be visible. If you look at the sources, I see around 8 of them, not 25.”