I was recently gifted with four Los Angeles telephone books from the 1930s and ’40s. Naturally, the first thing I looked up was the Garden of Allah Hotel, where my Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels are set. And there it was in the Los Angeles Extended Area telephone directory for March 1937.
did anybody pick up?
Ooooo! That’s a thought! I wonder who has inherited that number!
Once had a 45RPM of ’50’s R&R with a girl’s name & phone number written on it. (Vinyl came from the old Rare Records shop in Glendale.) We dialed the number and, sure enough, her mother answered the call. She got a good laugh out of that too. As to phone books, I aquired the Eugene Oregon one that was active when Animal House was being filmed and Belushi was having fun with some local jamming at the Eugene Hotel that would lead to the Blues Brothers. And yes, the Dexter Lake Club has a place in there too with that phone number back then. Those ol directories are chock full of historical references.
I just saw an episode from the first season of Perry Mason, circa 1956-57, in which Mason gives Della Street’s home phone number to someone. Her number was exactly like the listing for the Garden of Allah, meaning Mason said “Hollywood-1234” (or whatever the last four digits were). Maybe Della lived at the Garden of Allah!
I was recently on a tour at the Universal Studios Orlando theme park and asked the guide what was the inspiration for Garden of Allah recreation that is there.
The answer given is that Steven Spielberg was the creative consultant for the initial park design, and he drove creating it as part of his view on how to create an old Hollywood feel in the area.
Hi Wayne, I knew about the Garden of Allah recreation at Universal Florida, but this is the first time I’m hearing that Steven Spielberg had a hand in the designing the old Hollywood feel. That’s very cool! Thanks for taking the time to share that with us, Wayne.