Thursday, May 1, 2008 – After the Fire

The Los Angeles Times story has a masterful photograph of the fire in progress, but the text tells you what happened:

A popular celebrity hangout near Hollywood and Vine, in the heart of Hollywood, was gutted Tuesday morning by a blaze that took nearly 2 1/2 hours to bring under control.  Flames reached 40 feet at the fire's peak, sending up a plume of smoke visible for miles. As many as 180 firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze that destroyed Basque Nightclub and Restaurant in the 6200 block of West Hollywood Boulevard.

 

The fire broke out about 5:30 a.m. in the club where actress Lindsay Lohan celebrated her 21st birthday and rap star Kanye West partied in recent weeks. The site is at the hub of Hollywood's ongoing redevelopment, close to numerous high-end projects, including loft buildings, a W Hotel and residences now under construction. Los Angeles fire officials said the blaze was 99% contained by about 8 a.m.

 

City Councilman Tom LaBonge was on a hike in Griffith Park when he saw the flames and rushed to the scene. "It looked like a meteor, a half-moon of orange flames," LaBonge said.

 

… The building devastated by the fire was home to three other businesses: Dan Dee Shoe Repair, the Bloodshot Tattoo & Piercing Studio and the San Miguel Spa and Salon. The building, although not one of the neighborhood's more famous, has had its moments in the spotlight. Scenes from the movie "Ocean's Eleven" were shot at the nightclub, said City Council President Eric Garcetti, who represents the area. Garcetti, who was at the scene, said the property had recently been sold as part of a renovation effort in Hollywood. Garcetti said the building dated to the 1930s, and fire officials said that over the years it had housed a Howard Johnson restaurant, a nightclub called Deep and a music studio.

It was all over the national and international news. Here's the day after, for the record.

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 this site.

Technical Note:

Photographs after March 3, 2008, were taken with a Nikon D200 – or a Nikon D70 when noted. All previous photographs were taken with the D70. The lenses used are (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto, or (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. Photography here is modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  The earliest photography in the archives was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik