PrintVintage Hollywood
Once upon a time, Hollywood (the place) and Hollywood (the fantasy) were joined at the hip. Long before Movieland’s historical Mecca opened a wax museum and awarded Sesame Street’s Big Bird a star on the Walk of Fame, the famed neighborhood under the big white sign and its surrounding areas were more than just the entertainment world’s puzzling ground zero in name only. There were studios where Cecil B. DeMille called the shots. Theaters where Shirley Temple attended premieres. Bungalows where Marilyn Monroe cavorted. Bar stools where Humphrey Bogart reigned. Shops where Rudolph Valentino purchased footwear. Suites where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard checked in. Tables where Spencer Tracy ordered the Welsh rabbit. All rooted in and around the place called Hollywood.
Most of those roots are now resting under headstones, parking lots, strip malls, T-shirt joints, hipster bars, and Borat impersonators squatting near the Kodak Theatre. The Brown Derby? Gone. Pickfair? History. The Garden of Allah? A faded memory. The first Hollywood stage set at Sunset and Gower? Now occupied by a 24-hour Denny’s. You get the picture. First-generation Hollywood with all of its famed haunts (most of which command about as much name recognition today as Harold Lloyd) has pretty much called it a wrap. But not quite.
In the heart of Hollywood and beyond, it turns out there are still a few tenacious Golden Age threads that are older than George Clooney, tougher than Governor Schwarzenegger, and deeper than Steven Spielberg’s pockets. Several reinventions later, Hollywood and Hollywood offer glimpses of a proud, not entirely obliterated past. Greater Hollywood, let’s call it. Is that a story you might be interested in? Here’s the scenario:
FADE IN: EXT. CAR RENTAL – DAY
No one’s saying you can’t tour through Old Hollywood in a white 2007 Dodge Neon, but if Steve McQueen came back as an L.A. tourist, you can bet he’d opt for one of the classic rides available at the original Rent-A-Wreck location by the I-10 offramp on the edge of Santa Monica in West L.A. Here you’ll find a ’66 Mustang convertible, ’68 Coupe de Ville, ’70 Oldsmobile Cutlass, ’74 Dodge Dart, and a fleet of well-aged T-Birds, Skylarks, and vintage Cadillacs that mainly get rented out for movie productions by savvy entertainment folks. It’s a bit out of the way, but they’ll pick you up and drop you off at Los Angeles International Airport anytime, any day.
EnlargeINT. HOTEL – DAY
Technically, The Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows isn’t in Hollywood proper. Otherwise, the storied Pink Palace is about as classic Hollywood as it gets. Built nearly a century ago, this luxury compound set on a dozen acres of healthy palm trees and blooming hibiscus plants has been an institution for Hollywood’s rich and famous from the get-go. Will Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks stretched out in the Polo Lounge. Marilyn Monroe romped with Yves Montand in Bungalow 5 during the filming of Let’s Make Love. Liz Taylor enjoyed six of her eight honeymoons here. Many awful movies you saw 25 years ago got pitched and greenlighted somewhere in the shallow end of the Olympic-size swimming pool—where Fred Astaire, all kidding aside, routinely read the trades while dancing around the deck. The 204 rooms (including those 21 legendary bungalows) come accented in the hotel’s signature palette of pinks, greens, apricots, and yellows and appointed with English-style sofas, canopied beds, ’40s-style oval desks, fireplaces (in most), and plush marble bathrooms.
Purists who’d rather stay right in Hollywood can check in to the landmark Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, a Spanish colonial blast from the past that hosted the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929 (in the preserved Blossom Room just off of the lobby) and features a Gable & Lombard Penthouse that came by the name honestly. Some guests swear that Marilyn Monroe haunts Suite 1200, and rumor also has it that Montgomery Clift is still learning his lines on the ninth floor. For impressive city views, opt for a room on one of the upper floors in the main 12-story building.
INT. BREAKFAST JOINT – DAY
Fuel up with gourmet coffee and the signature Belgian waffle (or, if you must, a steamed-vegetable egg-white omelet) at The Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows’ Fountain Coffee Room. Guests, famous or not, have been planting themselves at the original pink stools and curvy Formica counter since the ’40s.
EXT. HOLLYWOOD BLVD. – DAY
In the heart of Hollywood, begin your tour of duty at the neighborhood’s original crossroads, the corner of Hollywood and Vine—square one of the star-studded Hollywood Walk of Fame. Part publicity stunt and part tribute to immortal moguls and entertainers like Samuel Goldwyn, Bob Hope, and, uh, Donald Trump (who collected his star in 2007 for The Apprentice), more than 2,300 terrazzo-and-brass credits roll along the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard between La Brea Avenue and Gower Street and Vine Street between Sunset Boulevard and Yucca Street—and it’s amazing how many names do not ring a bell.
Some resilient, gorgeously restored landmarks live on along a few blocks of Hollywood’s namesake thoroughfare. First on the short checklist: The Pantages Theatre, an art deco wonder, which hosted the Oscars through the 1950s, still ticks as a top venue for Broadway musicals. The El Capitan Theatre, “Hollywood’s First Home of Spoken Drama” and the site of Citizen Kane’s 1941 world premiere, lives on as a movie palace under the Disney banner. More than 80 years old, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre remains most famous for its over-the-top Far East décor and forecourt full of celebrity hand- and footprints (and Gene Autry’s horse Champion’s hoof prints). In its heyday, Hollywood’s oldest movie house, the Egyptian Theatre (opened in 1922), hosted premieres for Robin Hood (the first one, starring Douglas Fairbanks), Ben-Hur, and South Pacific before mysteriously tailspinning after its premiere of Barbra Streisand’s Funny Girl—and resurrecting decades later as the home of American Cinematheque, which screens an eclectic range of films plus its in-house documentary, Forever Hollywood.
Right next door to the Egyptian is the Pig’n Whistle—aka Hollywood’s most storied address for a burger and pint of ale. Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, and friends held court here after movie premieres. Today, a full restoration has granted this long-shuttered establishment its old art deco good looks and a decent continental menu.
For a guided walk along these hallowed blocks—with earphones, live commentary, and immutable Old Hollywood gossip—Red Line Tours offers one of the most personalized and informative behind-the-scenes treks into the neighborhood’s living past, hitting all of the above spots as well as some far less obvious ones (e.g., the hidden site of the last remaining Hollywood “speak-easy”).
EnlargeEXT. GRAVEYARD – DAY
Pay your respects just down the road at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Formerly called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, the new moniker of this final Hollywood resting place suggests a field of golden-era legends who still love an audience—and the helpful management here is happy to support that cause. Famous interred include Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks (Sr. and Jr.), Cecil B. DeMille, and several other legends of their day (Peter Lorre, Clifton Webb, Jesse Lasky, Janet Gaynor, and Darla [Hood] and Alfalfa [Carl Switzer] from The Little Rascals to name a few) who still draw die-hard fans. The grounds are more than a century old, with two giant mausoleums, an interesting assortment of moldering headstones, a lake, and detailed maps of the place available in the flower shop at the front gate. Every Saturday during the summer and on special occasions, Cinespia hosts movie nights here—paying homage to the old guard with screenings of classic films on the outer wall of Valentino’s tomb.
EXT. MOVIE STUDIO – DAY
Drive past 98-year-old Paramount Pictures, the last major Golden Age studio still standing in Hollywood. You’ll recognize the iconic Bronson Gate from Sunset Boulevard, The Player, and a pile of other movies—and you can even walk right through it for a two-hour tour of the back lot with an advance reservation. But if you only have the time or patience for one tour of a working Hollywood movie lot...
Head over the hill to Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. Long before the cast of Friends was here yukking it up in the studio’s enshrined Central Perk set, this 110-acre dream factory was churning out Casablanca, Rebel without a Cause, Bonnie and Clyde, and countless other classics. The gates are open to the public during the week for a candid VIP tour—more than two hours of Hollywood history and behind-the-scenes glimpses at one of the world’s oldest and most famous movie and television studios. Small groups board a studio tram, stopping in at prop warehouses, wardrobe departments, sound stages of prime time shows, and some of the most famous sets in movie history, including—my personal favorite—“Midwest Street,” where Paul Newman cut off the heads of those parking meters in Cool Hand Luke and where John Wayne performed in his last film, The Shootist.
EXT. RANCH – DAY
No, I’m not recommending that you flag down one of those “star map” vendors hiding along Sunset Boulevard and drive up into the Hollywood Hills to stare at the late Ricardo Montalban’s gate. The must-visit in L.A.’s outer sanctum of celebrity hillside properties is Will Rogers State Historic Park—the former address of the legendary cowboy humorist himself and one of L.A.’s only famous old residences now open to the public. From the early 1920s until his death in 1935, Rogers lived on this 186-acre woodsy hideaway furnished with corrals, riding trails, and a 31-room ranch house with his wife, Betty, and three children, hosting buddies like Walt Disney, David Niven, and Gary Cooper for polo games on the property’s regulation-size field. Players and spectators still gather here for weekend matches, but the real prize on this peaceful patch of hallowed ground is a tour through the cowboy’s fully preserved, eccentrically assembled house (think massive bull horns over the fireplace, a hand-crank hurdy gurdy that plays old honky-tonk tunes, and a stuffed calf used for perfecting roping tricks) before disappearing along the Inspiration Point Loop Trail—a two-mile hike leading to wide-angle panoramas of L.A. and the Pacific.
EnlargeEXT. IMMORTAL WESTERN SET – DAY
For a real ersatz Old West experience, head even farther west to Paramount Ranch, now managed by the National Park Service. In the 1920s, Paramount Pictures purchased this 2,700-acre parcel of mountains, canyons, and creeks in the Santa Monica Mountains and turned it into one of the busiest western movie factories in the biz—home of Gunsmoke, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Cisco Kid, and more recently the TV series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, among many other titles. The property’s preserved old Western town facade (where Gary Cooper, Mae West, Cary Grant, and Claudette Colbert once waited for their close-ups) is still an active filming site with a network of nice hiking trails where you can climb Marco Polo Hill (former site of the 1938 MGM classic The Adventures of Marco Polo) or follow the chaparral-covered Coyote Canyon Trail to a quiet picnic ground with photogenic views of L.A.’s rustic backside.
EXT. HILLTOP LOUNGE – EVENING
Head back to Hollywood, where the best sunset-with-cocktail views await at Yamashiro. Originally built to house a private Asian art collection, this 96-year-old hilltop mansion did time as an exclusive club for silent-movie idols like Lilian Gish and Ramon Novarro before reinventing itself as a Cal-Asian restaurant with vistas that are well worth a couple of $12 Norman’s Mai Tais (the famous drink here) or Buchito Martinis. To ensure a window berth in the front lounge, which fills up fast, be here for first seating just after 5 p.m.
INT. STEAKHOUSE – EVENING
Right down the hill in the heart of downtown Hollywood, Musso & Frank Grill (b. 1919) is Hollywood’s oldest dining room. A big oak-and-red-leather-bedecked establishment with cavernous booths, cadaverous red-jacketed waiters, a gorgeous swivel-chaired bar, and crowds of inebriated ghosts (including famous former scribes like William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Nathanael West), the joint is far too venerable these days for any petty debates about whether the martinis (great), chops (good), or chicken pot pie (haven’t tried it) are worth the hefty price. Dining at Musso’s, absorbing its parallel universe, is partaking in an old school Hollywood ritual that is neither outdated nor predated. Just priceless.
INT. MOVIE THEATER – NIGHT
In Movieland, you can bet there are some sacred places to drop 10 bucks and sit in the dark for a few hours. The most visible movie palaces right on the boulevard are Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (for the usual schlock) and the Egyptian Theatre (less-commercial fare). But for a real blast from the past, head a couple miles southwest into L.A.’s Fairfax District to the Silent Movie Theatre, a boxy little gem, which opened its doors in 1942 and was for years the country’s only venue fully dedicated to pre-talkie classics. An eclectic mix of movies is now screened in this vintage art deco movie house, including (the first Wednesday evening of every month and Sunday matinees once a month) favorite first-generation silent flicks from the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, and Felix the Cat—with live organ accompaniment.
EnlargeINT. BAR – NIGHT
Humphrey Bogart, Jack Benny, Marilyn Monroe, and many other Tinseltown legends had a special place in their livers for the Formosa Cafe, Old Hollywood’s definitive watering hole. Facing the wrecking ball a decade ago, this ’30s-era converted railcar-that-could was saved by preservationists who believed that its strong drinks, red banquette booths, and wallpaper of 8-by-10 glossies were all worth fiercely fighting for. To show its appreciation, the perfunctory Asian-inspired cuisine here has improved considerably and a smoking patio has been added. Good for another hundred years.
INT. LAST CALL – NIGHT
Stars, movie moguls, schmoozers, and pretenders have been nightcapping in The Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows’ timeless Polo Lounge with its peachy pink hues, lamp-lit forest-green booths, and striped ceiling since the whole Hollywood thing got going. Even if you’re not staying here, you can simply pretend that you are at this definitive leisure room where Zsa Zsa Gabor signed her first movie contract and (more “recently”) Lorne Michaels sealed the deal to launch Saturday Night Live. Reserve a large, dark booth inside or an outdoor patio berth and linger over liqueurs, baked Alaska, $180 farm-raised Siberian Osetra caviar, a finely chopped McCarthy salad (the most popular item on the menu for decades now), or whatever else your heart desires. You’re in the Polo Lounge. You’re in Greater Hollywood—which, it turns out, hasn’t quite called it a wrap.
FEATURED ATTRACTIONS
THE Beverly Hills Hotel AND Bungalows / THE Fountain Coffee room / Polo Lounge
9641 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills, 310.276.2251,
www.beverlyhillshotel.com
Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 323.461.2020,
www.americancinematheque.com
El Capitan Theatre
6838 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 800.347.6396,
www.disney.go.com/disneypictures/el_capitan
Formosa Café
7156 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, 323.850.9050
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 323.464.8111,
www.manntheatres.com/chinese
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, 323.469.1181,
www.hollywoodforever.com
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 323.466.7000,
www.hollywoodroosevelt.com
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Boulevard & Vine Street, Hollywood, 323.469.8311,
www.hollywoodchamber.net/walk-of-fame-welcome
Musso & Frank Grill
6667 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 323.467.7788,
www.mussoandfrankgrill.com
Pantages Theatre
6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 800.982.2787,
www.broadwayla.org
Paramount Pictures
5555 Melrose Ave., Hollywood, 323.956.5000,
www.paramount.com
Paramount Ranch
2903 Cornell Road, Agoura Hills, 805.370.2301,
www.nps.gov/samo/planyourvisit/paramountranch.htm
Pig’n Whistle
6714 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 323.463.0000,
www.pignwhistle.com
Red Line Tours
6773 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 323.402.1074,
www.redlinetours.com
Rent-A-Wreck
12333 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, 310.826.7555,
www.rentawreck.com
Silent Movie Theatre
611 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, 323.655.2510,
www.silentmovietheatre.com
Warner Bros. Studios
3400 Riverside Drive, Burbank, 818.972.8687,
www.wbstudiotour.com
Will Rogers State Historic Park
1501 Will Rogers State Park Road, Pacific Palisades, 310.454.8212,
www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=626
Yamashiro
1999 N. Sycamore Ave., Hollywood, 323.466.5125,
www.yamashirorestaurant.com
Issue: June 2010
