Friday, September 28, 2007 – Black Cat Time

In the old Hollywood noir films, like The Big Sleep, Los Angeles is an odd, dark place. It's always night, the streets are always wet from rain – and the ordinary seems ominous. And on a rare dark day here it's suddenly 1946 again – black cat time.  Down on the Sunset Strip an Australian wine company provides the cat clock from the forties.  You almost expect to see Phillip Marlow standing below it, in his trench coat, smoking one Lucky Strike after another.  He wasn't there.

Yes, the eyes do move left and right, and the tail swings back and forth like a pendulum – and the time is correct.

The cat is looking at the wedding cake.  That would the Sunset Tower Hotel, the Zigzag Moderne icon smack in the middle of the Sunset Strip (8358 Sunset Boulevard) - 1929, architect Leland A. Bryant. It's very famous, in a good number of films, and once home to Howard Hughes, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Zasu Pitts, and that famous gangster with the great name, Bugsy Siegel. That's noir enough.  But it does look like a wedding cake.

Across the street, something to remember on the side of the Hyatt on Sunset, sometimes called the "Riot House." Members of Led Zeppelin used to ride motorcycles through the halls, Little Richard lived in the penthouse suite for years, and room 1015 is where Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards mooned the world and dropped a television set out the window. Fame is power. Power is sweet.

The hill behind the Hyatt is just odd.

Oh, and on the street, a theological note. But you knew that.

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:

Most of these photographs were shot with a Nikon D70 - using lens (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto, or after 5 June 2006, (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor, 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. They were modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  Earlier photography 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