Posting a Christmas photo in May might seem strange, but this one was just so pretty that I decided to post it now. We’re looking east along Hollywood Blvd from Wilcox Ave. We know it’s December because the “Santa Claus Lane” sign and metallic light-up Christmas trees along the boulevard. And we know it’s 1938 because “The Dawn Patrol” starring Errol Flynn is playing at the Warner Bros. Theatre, and it was released Christmas Eve, 1938. It went on to become one of Warners’ biggest money makers of 1939, which is no mean feat during “Hollywood’s Greatest Year.”
Roughly the same view in December 2020. The Warners’ Theatre is still there (albeit closed) but the semaphore traffic light on the right is long gone:
Every derelict photo of the Blvd reminds me of unfinished business;
If Hollywood were a business, it would not tolerate the degradation we are now suffering with homelessness, crimes, runaway production and closed theaters.
But it is not a business, it is our home. So, since it is our home, why do we allow this to happen to our home?
The landscape for entertainment has changed dramatically. Hollywood must too.
This troubling situation reminds me of a proposal I made a number of years ago essentially making the point that small scattered theaters, even multiplexes are like small carnivals still trying to make it in the age of Disneyland and Universal Studios competition.
I suggested that Hollywood Boulevard could be made into an entertainment “destination” (Blvd of Dreams?) that would attract visitors by offering a broad array of ALL forms of entertainment, live and recorded, at new and older venues along with related museums for different genres.
The ArcLight cinemas could be included in a plan that would stretch from the Pantages and ArcLight to the Chinese and Dolby theaters, including the Hollywood Bowl and Ford theater. Live venues like the Fonda, Montalban and the Palladium would complement an array of new small live venues, restaurants, shops, etc, starting with the many theaters that are now closed. They could have corresponding museums too.
Access to the Blvd, a well planned destination area, would be free. Individual attractions would be independent and charge market rates.
Several cities around the world have revitalized degraded areas like this very successfully: New York’s High Line, Paris’ Promenade Plantee, Sidney’s The Goods Line, even Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade is an example. Rick Caruso has demonstrated the model very well with The Grove. Maybe he could head up the effort?
And what a nice complement to the new Academy Museum at LACMA?
have you seen the model of ‘old Hollywood’? https://www.hhprc.org/?fbclid=IwAR1JIm5UwnyPDfKDwgNA6RnJREofH5nwTq3y4VFt5hAxi5Ni4F70TGTn6PE
No I haven’t seen it but it’s on my post-pandemic to-do list!
Heck, even Culver City has re-made its downtown. Hollywood Blvd has just been so DRAB, for decades.