September 30, 2008

• PhotoPost: Hollywood Hills

  

  A collection of 18 photos taken in July 2008 for the Hollywood, Beachwood Estates and the Sign folder in my Webshots Gallery.  It's amazing to think that I haven't been out to take any photos since July, and that I never posted any more photos from the last photo expedition since my July 17th PhotoPost. I really need to get out and take some more photos. I only covered part of the Hollywood Forever Cemetary, and never got to Hollywood or Sunset Boulevards. July is when my roommate Joel died, and August was taken up with my "extreme makeover" which is almost finished. September brought the news that I need to use crutches. Now September is almost over!

  

  The Manor Hotel, which is now a Scientology Learning Center, on Franklin Street in Hollywood, CA. The hotel was built in the 20s, and is partially hidden by lots of foliage. The "rooks" on the corners of the hotel make it look like a castle.

  

  I found this portrait painted on the side of an apartment building to be quite artistic. Lots of buildings in Hollywood and Los Angeles are decorated with paintings, especially in Latino areas. Some of the murals in East Los Angeles are very colorful and exciting. Someday I want to make a photo expedition with the express purpose of taking photos of street art in the city.

  

  Another interesting mural painted on a storefront in Hollywood. It's interesting that some paintings will remain untouched, but some will be painted over with grafitti, and sometimes the grafitti adds to the mystique of the painting. This one is pure however, and is really striking. I took the photo from my car while stopped at a stoplight.

  

  In my last Hollywood themed Photopost, I showed a few photos of the Hollywood sign. Here I stopped while driving up into the hills to catch this panorama of the sign and some tudor style architecture on the hillside.

  

  If there ever is a "big one", a reference to the massive earthquake predicted to hit Southern California for many years, and if the epicenter is anywhere near Silver Lake or the Hollywood Hills, a lot of the stilt houses precariously perched on the mountainsides will probably slide down the hill. Here on the crest of this hill you can see some examples in the Beachwood Estates.

  

  Yet another view of the Hollywood sign. This is the last time I actually hiked into the hills without a cane or crutches. It was quite surprising when my latest orthopedic specialist told me I should be on crutches. I told him that just a couple months earlier I was up hiking in the Hollywood hills.

  

  Some sunflowers planted at the side of the road on Hollyridge Street in the hills. I used a photo of these flowers as the header for my essay "The Second Weekend in July" back when Joel first showed signs of nearing the end.

  

  An interesting painting of a bookcase can be seen on this garage door on a residential address. When driving by, this looks like it really is full of books!

  

  This is the Hollywood Presbeterian Church glimpsed from underneath one of the Hollywood Freeway overpasses. It took a few shots to get a perfect shot with the overpass and overhanging foliage, plus the whole church including the cross.  

  

  Singage always thrills me. Especially older painted signage. Here are a number of signs painted on the side of a motel. The guy haning from the clock is an homage to the silent Harold Lloyd comedy "Safety Last", which was filmed in Hollywood, as were a lot of the early silent comedies.

  

  This is a view of the Hollywood Tower apartments off Gower Street next to the 101 Freeway, also called the Hollywood Freeway. This apartment building used to be a Hotel, and the main sign can be partially glimpsed at the top of the tower. It is pointing toward the traffic on the freeway.

  

  An interesting view of the iconic Capitol records building from Gower Street. The Capitol Records building was the first round building ever designed, and was made to resemble a stack of 45 singles on a turntable. This is a more "industrial" looking shot of the building rising from above some office buildings on the street in back of Hollywood Boulevard.

  

  In order to get a good shot of the Hollywood Tower sign, one has to be on the freeway driving by, or on the access road on the other side of the freeway, as I am here, shooting through the fence of a parking lot with the Tower Hotel in the distance.

  

  Here we have the entrance to the Hollywood Forever Cemetary, where a lot of famous folk are buried. Since most of the denizens of this cemetary are legends of stage, screen, and music, some of the memorials are quite ostentatious. I still need to go back with a map of more famous graves, and dedicate a complete Photopost to the cemetary, but I'll show some shots here from my trip in July. 

  

  The lake in the center of the Hollywood Forever cemetary includes the Clark mausoleum. The guy buried there was a businessman and not a movie star, but the mausoleum is pretty large, and the lake is very pretty. On October 4th, there is a tour of the Hollywood Forever Cemetary, and I just might make it with my cameras so that I can get some more history of the place. (and maybe make a video tour as well, time permitting.)

  

  A swan cleans itself by the side of the lake in the middle of the Hollywood Forever Cemetary.

  

  This is a tribute memorial to Johnny Ramone of the Ramones punk band.

  

  This is a tribute memorial to Hattie McDaniel, the first black woman to ever win an Academy Award, for her portrayal of Mammie in the film Gone With The Wind. She isn't buried in the cemetary. When she died, black folks had to be buried in their own cemetaries. Hollywood Forever was segregated back then. This memorial was presented in the 60s.

   

  • 10:09 am
  • 22 Comments