Parts of this article (those related to Redevelopment and urbanization, which mentions buildings completed ten years ago as under construction or planned.) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2019)
Few production facilities are still located in the immediate area. One of the few remaining is the Capitol Records Tower to the north of the intersection.
The namesake subway station for the Metro B Line is located directly below the intersection, but the entrance/exit to the station is located one block east at Hollywood and Argyle Avenue. The intersection is located in ZIP code 90028.
History
The intersection of Hollywood and Vine (looking north) in 1907 was mostly farmland
The area was a lemon grove until 1903, when Daeida Beveridge allowed one corner of the dirt intersection on her property to be used for the building of the Hollywood Memorial Church for the local German Methodist population.
The streets were renamed in 1910, when the city of Hollywood was merged with Los Angeles.
Beginning in the 1920s, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the area began to see an influx of money and influence as movie and music businesses moved to the district, turning the local farms and orchards into movie backlots. Hollywood and Vine was the second busiest intersection in the area, after Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue.[1]
In the 1930s, radio station KFWB spoke of "broadcasting live from Hollywood and Vine," and newspaper columnists Hedda Hopper and Jimmie Fidler regularly touted the intersection's mystique.[1]
In 1958, the intersection became the central point of the newly installed Hollywood Walk of Fame. Later Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, the astronauts of the first lunar landing mission Apollo 11, were awarded television stars for coverage of the mission, and given the places of honor at the corner of Hollywood and Vine.
By the 1960s, however, many studios and broadcasters had moved onto more upscale areas, and the area fell into disrepair and disrepute, with many abandoned stores and offices, and the streets themselves, claimed by squatters and panhandlers. It took several decades for redevelopment to take hold, and visitors looking for Hollywood dreams were often taken aback by the area's contrast with shinier tourist meccas.
The Hollywood/Vine subway station opened in 1999, and led to more sustained and serious redevelopment in the area. On May 29, 2003, Hollywood and Vine was named "Bob Hope Square" to commemorate Hope's 100th birthday.
In urban folklore, many of the local buildings are considered to be part of "Haunted Hollywood", home to the ghosts of celebrities (and less stellar residents) of Hollywood's legendary past. The intersection has been mentioned or alluded to in dozens of songs, films, video games, music videos and other popular media, often as a symbol of Hollywood's lure as a destination for dreamers, or for its decadence and disappointments.[1]
The first "high-rise" building at Hollywood and Vine was the 12-story Taft Building, built in 1923 on the southeast corner on the site of the old Memorial Church. It was built for A.Z. Taft Jr. by architects Walker & Eisen, in the Renaissance Revival style. "In Hollywood's golden age, all the studios had offices there," said Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler,[1] including Charlie Chaplin and Will Rogers. From 1935 to 1945, it was home to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences offices.
On the northwest corner, the Laemmle Building was built in the International Style in 1932 by architect Richard Neutra for Carl Laemmle, head of Universal Pictures. Ultimately, the original drawing depicting the design that Neutra intended was not built because of the 1929 stock market crash. It was significantly altered from 1940, and retained few of its original features. The building was gutted by fire in April 2008, and razed in October 2008. To the west of the Laemmle Building is another landmark International Style building, by Neutra's friend and rival Rudolf Schindler. The building was originally known for Sardi's Diner, and is now home to the Cave Theater.
To the north of the Laemmle Building is a Spanish Colonial style building housing the Avalon Hollywood, opened on January 24, 1927, as the Hollywood Playhouse and designed by the architectural firm of H. L. Gogerty and Carl Jules Weyl.[2] The building's name has changed many times over the 20th century, but was known as the Hollywood Palace for many years before its most recent renaming.
Equitable Building of Hollywood
On the northeast corner of Hollywood and Vine is the Equitable Building, a Gothic Deco commercial tower built in 1929 on the northeast corner, designed by Aleck Curlett. Next to it is the Art Deco movie house, the Pantages Theatre, built in 1930 by B. Marcus Priteca—the first of its kind in the United States. The Academy Award ceremonies were held at the Pantages from 1949 to 1959.
On the southwest corner, the B.H. Dyas building was built in 1927 by architect Frederick Rice Dorn. The B.H Dyas Specialty Emporium was a victim of the depression. From 1931 to 1982 it housed The Broadway-Hollywooddepartment store. The sign is a historical landmark and remains. In 2007, the Broadway Hollywood Building underwent extensive reconstruction and has opened as a luxury class apartment building. The building has an art deco style annex just to the west of it built in the 1930s. (1943). In 1927, while researching The Skyscraper for DeMille Studios, Ayn Rand visited the building and, while waiting for her contact to arrive, went to the nearby Hollywood Branch Library, where she was reunited with Frank O'Connor, whom she had lost track of 6 months earlier when DeMille's The King of Kings finished shooting; Rand and O'Connor then began dating, were married in 1929 until his death in 1979.
Just to the south on Vine was the fabled Hollywood Plaza Hotel, built in 1924 and home to silent film star Clara Bow's "It Cafe". Across the street, the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant, the second in the chain, opened in 1929 in a Spanish Colonial Revival building designed for Cecil B. DeMille; it was demolished in 1994, leaving only a part of the Derby facade, which itself was threatened with demolition as of April 2006. Farther south on Vine were the original Lasky–Paramount Studios, later NBC's West coast studios; and ABC's first West coast studios.
Redevelopment and urbanization
At the base of the Broadway Hollywood Building is a historical designation plaque for the Hollywood and Vine intersection
A number of high-profile projects are attempting to restore the lost luster of the area. As of May 2007[update], major renovations announced by the Los Angeles city council, began construction on the intersection, developments expected to cost upwards of $600-million. The new projects call for a 305-room W Hotel tower with 143 adjoining condominiums. Also part of the plan for the southeast corner of the intersection, 375 luxury apartments, restaurants, a nightclub, stores and a spa, as well as retail renovations of the Pantages Theater, similar to the Hollywood and Highland Center a mile down the Boulevard. Expected completion date is November 2009.
Two other large projects are Palisades Development Group's $50-million conversion of the former Equitable office building to condominiums and Kor Group's $70-million conversion of the former Broadway department store, also into condos.
Basque Nightclub fire
On April 30, 2008, a large fire destroyed the Basque Nightclub at Hollywood and Vine. It required the calling of 23 fire engines.[1] This destroyed the historic Laemmle building.
Related Research Articles
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The Hollywood Heritage Museum, also known as the "Hollywood Studio Museum," is located on Highland Ave. in Hollywood, California, United States.
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It runs through the Hollywood, East Hollywood, Little Armenia, Thai Town, and Los Feliz districts. Its western terminus is at Sunset Plaza Drive in the Hollywood Hills and its eastern terminus is at Sunset Boulevard in Los Feliz. Hollywood Boulevard is famous for running through the tourist areas in central Hollywood, including attractions such as the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Ovation Hollywood shopping and entertainment complex.
Brown Derby was a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and best known was shaped like a derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was opened by Wilson Mizner in 1926. The chain was started by Robert H. Cobb and Herbert K. Somborn in the 1920s. The original Brown Derby restaurants had closed or had been converted to other uses by the 1980s, though a Disney-backed Brown Derby national franchising program revived the brand in the 21st century. It is often incorrectly thought that the Brown Derby was a single restaurant, and the Wilshire Boulevard and Hollywood branches are frequently confused.
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design, it was used in railroad locomotives, telephones, toasters, buses, appliances, and other devices to give the impression of sleekness and modernity.
Hollywood/Vine station is an underground rapid transit station on the B Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. It is located under below the iconic Hollywood and Vine intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, after which the station is named, in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hollywood.
The Warner Grand Theatre is a historic movie palace that opened on January 20, 1931. It is located in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, at 478 West 6th Street.
The Pellissier Building and adjoining Wiltern Theatre is a 12-story, 155-foot (47 m) Art Deco landmark at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The entire complex is commonly referred to as the Wiltern Center. Clad in a blue-green glazed architectural terra-cotta tile and situated diagonal to the street corner, the complex is considered one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the United States. The Wiltern building is owned privately, and the Wiltern Theatre is operated by Live Nation's Los Angeles division.
Broadway, until 1890 Fort Street, is a thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The portion of Broadway from 3rd to 9th streets, in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles, was the city's main commercial street from the 1910s until World War II, and is the location of the Broadway Theater and Commercial District, the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch of Broadway, it is the only large concentration of movie palaces left in the United States.
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The Broadway Hollywood Building is a building in Los Angeles' Hollywood district. The building is situated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame monument area on the southwest corner of the intersection referred to as Hollywood and Vine, marking the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. It was originally built as the B. H. Dyas Building in 1927. The Broadway Hollywood Building is referred to by both its main address of 6300 Hollywood Boulevard and its side address of 1645 Vine Street.
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All un-suffixed roads are streets unless otherwise noted.
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