It’s hard to imagine a photo dripping with more atmosphere than this 1943 nighttime image of the Earl Carroll Theater at 6230 Sunset Blvd. Open between 1938 and 1948, it was at the time the world’s largest nightclub. Not only is the famous huge neon sign of the woman’s face glowing like a beacon, but Sunset Blvd is slick with rain. Add a private eye in a trench coat and a showgirl in fishnet stockings and you’ve got yourself a film noir movie in which nothing ends well. (This photo is from the collection of Paul Greenstein and is featured the book he co-authored with Dydia DeLyser, “Neon, A Light History” – https://historyofneon.org )
This is the same view from June 2022, after the place had been given a makeover for Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2019) It was known as the Aquarius Theatre in the 1960s and 1970s.
Looks Awful now. Who ever designed the new look must of never listened to mom, and just say NO
https://www.lahtf.org/earlcarroll/. Some history on the theater.
My family used to take me when it was Moulin Rouge. Friends would have birthday parties there for the matinee showing. Later my friend took me to it when it was the Hullabaloo. We went to the after hours downstairs where bands would try out new material. I met Sky Saxon that night. He was the lead singer of The Seeds. I had no idea who he was. We dated for a while. Great memories of that building.
The old photo is interesting in that it looks as though it’s in black and white at first glance, until you notice little touches of color here and there. Neat effect.