My focus has always been vintage photos of Los Angeles, usually up to the late 1950s, sometimes into the 60s and 70s if the subject is interesting or the image is extraordinary. But yesterday I came across one of the most striking photos I’ve ever seen of the Hollywood sign and had to post it. Taken by Ted VanCleave in 2015, it gives us a rare opportunity to experience the iconic sign close up. That’s the Hollywood Reservoir – aka Lake Hollywood – in the background. You can clearly see the sign from the lake, but this view of the lake from the sign is really something.
Dramatic black-and-white photo taken by Ted VanCleave from behind the Hollywood sign, 2015
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Very nice shot. Such an iconic location. Too bad it is just below a barbed wire compound deteriorating with age.
Very dramatic. Cool with the storm clouds.
This is approximately the view enjoyed by proto-hippy Eden Ahbez (or whatever, he changed his name a lot) who purportedly lived under one of the “L’s” of the Hollywood sign while writing his biggest song “Nature Boy,” which was a #1 hit for Nat King Cole in 1948.
It was later suggested that the melody of Nature Boy had been lifted from an old Yiddish Theater tune.