MOST people like to sleep in on vacation, luxuriating in their bed and waking up whenever they feel like it. This is just something I cannot do. When I go to another city, my mind is ablaze with "what can I photograph and what will it look like at different times of the day?" At my recent Chateau Marmont stay I was up at the crack of dawn, warming my camera up on Sunset Boulevard, catching the few cars that were out as they sped by.
As I ran west on Sunset with camera in hand (literally), I cut south on Alta Loma to get a shot of the Sunset Marquis Hotel before the front lights were turned off for the day. I stayed here once in 2008 when the Chateau was full. It's a beautiful property and was very well maintained. I have gone through 2 cameras since I stayed there, so it was time for this new exterior shot:
Down on Santa Monica Boulevard, I was in the heart of West Hollywood. The Revolver Bar looked great in the early morning with the red accent lighting still framing it.
Just down the street heading west is the iconic Beverly Hills sign:
The highlight of my run was stumbling upon the studio and residence of Lloyd Wright, eldest son of Frank Lloyd Wright, on Doheny Drive.
It was for sale in 2009 for $1.495 million. If only I hadn't been squandering all my money away on vintage Disneyland slides.
One of Lloyd Wright's most famous homes is the John Sowden home in Los Feliz aka the "Jaws House." One of its owners was Dr. George Hodel, an L.A. physician whose son claims that his father murdered the Black Dahlia inside of the house.
Back up on Sunset, the sun was pretty much out, and I couldn't resist getting a shot of the kitschy Pink Dot and its delivery car:
This billboard for Paul Anderson's latest film, "Inherent Vice" was screaming out for an animated gif:
Are you craving more Sunset Boulevard? See the rest of my photos at my main website.
