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Photography

December 2009

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Thursday, December 31, 2009 – That's a Wrap

Souvenir Street Signs, Hollywood Boulevard

New Year’s Eve and here in Hollywood another year ends, as does another decade. But Hollywood Boulevard on New Year's Eve is just not Times Square – close sometimes, but not the same thing - and not on New Year's Eve.

It's not that LA didn't try – "Plans for a billion-dollar, music-driven development in the shadow of the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles will create a West Coast equivalent of Times Square, according to its backer, Anschutz Entertainment Group." It's been years now. That's not working out. That's not Times Square West. There's no organic city around it, just vague Los Angeles. We don't really do cities out here. They're more of an administrative convenience.

Our own Times Square? Tim Noah at Slate said that was a stupid idea anyway – "Los Angeles doesn't need a Times Square, because it already has one at Hollywood and Vine. There's even a Disney presence - the refurbished nearby El Capitan movie theater." Of course he meant Hollywood at Highland, with the Kodak and Chinese theaters too, and all the rest of the madness. And the El Capitan does seem very New York at times. But it's not the same thing.

Maybe the Sunset Strip, outside the front door here, will be our Times Square

    Along Sunset Strip, the 75-year-old pavement could tell some incredible stories about Hollywood through the ages. "There's probably chewing gum spit out by Jim Morrison in front of the Whisky a Go-Go," West Hollywood Councilman John Duran said Wednesday. "Don't tell anybody or they'll want to go pick it up."

    The Sunset Boulevard "strip" has not been repaved since the 1930s. So it's possible there may be gum deposited there by movie stars who once frequented the Strip, like Humphrey Bogart, Greta Garbo or even regal Shakespearean actor and unlikely gum-smacker, Sir Laurence Olivier.

    Beginning on Monday, the city of West Hollywood will begin giving the Sunset Strip - its roadway and sidewalks - its first face-lift since it was converted from a dirt road.

    Ah – wide sidewalks, lots of trees, massive foot traffic for a change – that sounds nice. We'll see.

But this is New Year's Eve afternoon at what will have to do for now.

Bronze Marilyn Monroe statue at the Hollywood Museum on Highland Avenue at Hollywood Boulevard
Three Stooges - façade detail at Hollywood Souvenirs, Hollywood Boulevard at Highland

At the El Capitan on New Year's Eve afternoon –

At the El Capitan on New Year's Eve afternoon - Hello Kitty and Tourists
At the El Capitan on New Year's Eve afternoon - Hello Kitty and Tourists
At the El Capitan on New Year's Eve afternoon - a Transformer and Spiderman

And Mel's Drive-In (which isn't a drive-in and has no real history) provides the day's LA Surreal Kitsch –

Mel's Drive-In, Highland Avenue at Hollywood Boulevard
Mel's Drive-In, Highland Avenue at Hollywood Boulevard
Mel's Drive-In, Highland Avenue at Hollywood Boulevard

And the Holidays are over, as the Scientologists tell us so –

L Ron Hubbard Winter Wonderland, Hollywood Boulevard
L Ron Hubbard Winter Wonderland, Hollywood Boulevard

Ah, a Benz and the perfect dress for New Year's Eve –

Shop window, Las Palmas, Hollywood

Out with the old and in with the new –

Fan Palm and Juniper
Fan Palm and Juniper
Fan Palm and Juniper

If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back to this site.

Technical Note:

These photographs were taken with a Nikon D200 – the lenses used were AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or AF Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto.  The high-resolution photography here was modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 software.

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All text and photos unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - Alan M. Pavlik 

[December 2009] [Mysterious Alley] [Simple Colors] [You Are] [Working Hollywood] [The Berlin Wall] [Hello Girls] [Museum Light] [Christmas Dislocation] [A Dark Garden] [Rainy Day Deco] [Blue Christmas] [Will Farrell] [Demanding Attention] [Hollywood 1926-1928] [Graffiti Trio] [North of Pink's] [The Neighborhood] [Heavy Rain] [The La Brea Wall] [Workers] [In the Alley] [Lighting Hollywood] [Old and New] [Chinese Christmas] [Certain Danger] [Above It All] [Observatory Sky] [For Christmas] [A Rich Christmas] [Uncertainty] [Clouds Over Sunset] [Almost Here] [Winter Shadows] [Nutmeg Christmas] [California Poppy] [Year End Images] [Late Afternoon] [That's a Wrap]