Tuesday, April 29, 2008 – Imagine

Imagine the sixties never ended. At the corner of Yucca and North Hudson in the middle of Hollywood, the sixties never ended.

To be accurate, John Lennon's "Imagine" was released on September 9, 1971. It's residue from the sixties. The album was recorded between June 23, 1971 and July 5, 1971, at Ascot Sound Studios, built by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1970 on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park.  "Imagine" was produced by Phil Spector.

Spector was recently tried for second-degree murder out here.  On September 26, 2007, the jury stated that it could not reach a verdict, deadlocked at ten for guilty and two for not guilty. The judge declared a mistrial. A second trial is coming.  Spector's attorney had proposed that the retrial begin in September 2008, but that date fell through and a new trial date is pending.

Imagine….

And there's Barack Obama and "hope" –

These defaced Obama posters are at the nondescript theater on the northeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Argyle.  You remember the Hollywood Argyles and their number one hit record "Alley Oop" in 1960? That was recorded here. The Hollywood Argyles were a doo-wop band put together by Kim Fowley, still a student at University High School in West Los Angeles at the time. The band's name comes from this corner.  That was their only hit, and there was no band. Everyone else on the track was either a friend or a studio musician, paid twenty-five bucks for the day.  When the song took off and people wanted to book the band, well, there was no Hollywood Argyles.  So much for hope…

And these days, we get movie posters like this –

But go to Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue, Thai Town. There's always hope.

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