Strolling Down Sunset Boulevard

On my recent trip to Hollywood, I decided to stroll down Sunset Boulevard for a variety of reasons: get some updated photos (it had been almost two years since I last did this), check out the Viper Room, and most importantly, get some exercise for Willis! First stop on my photo tour was Carneys Restaurant, famous for its hamburgers and hot dogs. While the exterior looks like it has seen better days, the interior was doing a rocking business!



The Comedy Store had a RIP tribute on its sign to the recently departed Gilbert Gottfried:



Back in the day, this building was home to the glamorous Ciro’s Nightclub:



Two more shots of the Comedy Store:





The Mondrian Hotel was built in 1959 as an apartment building, then converted to a hotel in 1985. Ian Schrager of Studio 54 fame took over the property in 1996 and that’s when it became a celebrity haven. When I first moved back to Southern California in 1999, the Skybar was the hottest nightspot in town. From a 1997 L.A. Times article:

Finally, L.A.'s coming of age—even New Yorkers are beginning to take this town seriously. East Coast club entrepreneur Rande Gerber, known for his Whisky Bars and Armani Cafes, just gave L.A. a tremendous gift—the Sky Bar at the Mondrian Hotel. It’s the most gorgeous nightspot this town’s seen in years—from its spectacular view of L.A., which you see while lounging poolside in the club’s patio, to the intimate bar area, which is softly adorned with sheer white curtains and open to the night. The club requires all guests to phone prior to arrival to be included on an advance guest list. Once inside, you feel as if you’re part of a sexy cocktail party. The music is soft and European, with sensuous, mid-tempo beats providing a backdrop to the L.A. night. In the Sky Bar’s one-month existence, the crowd has been a mix of mature, confident Hollywood players, young stars and starlets, and basically anybody who can weasel his or her way in.



Today, one would barely notice the sad looking little entrance that used to have people lining their way up and down the block, hoping that they would be allowed to go beyond the velvet rope to hob-nob with the celebrities from the rooftop lounge.



The Sunset Plaza shopping center is still around (first built in 1924), but the tenants and façades have obviously changed through the years. Famous former tenants include photographer George Hurrell, fashion designers Don Loper and Adrian, the Elizabeth Arden salon, and former actor turned interior designer William Haines.



The Rocky and Bullwinkle statue still stands at its new location near Sunset and Holloway Drive:



When it resided across from the Chateau Marmont, the statue rotated. Today, the pair stand still.



Looking like a space ship ready for take-off, the Mutato Muzika building was built in 1967 for Dr. Richard Alan Franklyn, a well-known Hollywood cosmetic surgeon and author of books like "The Art of Staying Young" and "Developing Bosom Beauty."

From the L.A. Conservancy site:

Franklyn wanted a building designed expressly for doing plastic surgery, with natural light streaming in through central skylights to illuminate the operating room. He got it, with a circular UFO-like building lit not only by skylights, but by elongated arched windows separated by simple concrete pilasters covering the entire circular façade. The architect Franklyn hired to design the building is said to be none other than Oscar Niemeyer, the world-famous Brazilian architect who designed the Mid-Century Modern buildings of Brasilia, as well as many others that changed the face of modern architecture around the world. Niemeyer was known for his love of curves over straight lines, so by that token the Beauty Pavilion certainly fits with the rest of his oeuvre. The architect was living and working primarily in Paris in the late 1960s, however, and most of his designs were monumental civic and institutional complexes around the world.



Fred Segal has a branch on Sunset; my heart still belongs to the one on Melrose:



Having grown up in the Watergate era and being familiar with the outspoken Martha Mitchell’s attempt to get the word out, I may have to check this one out:



Last stop on Willis’ long walk down Sunset Boulevard was the Viper Room, which is apparently in danger of being torn down and replaced by yet another mixed-use monstrosity.



While I hate to see historic buildings erased, I can’t say the exterior cries out for salvation. Maybe a good power wash would help.



I also can’t say I’ve ever been inside, either, so one way or the other I don’t have any personal ties to this one.







I had never noticed this side entrance before:



Willis was very glad to get back to the hotel for a beverage and snacks:



See more Sunset Boulevard photos at my main website.

Sunset Boulevard Update

This bird’s eye from the seventh floor of the Chateau Marmont gives a wonderful panorama of Marmont Lane (on the left) where the infamous John Belushi bungalow is located; at center is the Marmont pool, where Howard Hughes “allegedly” ogled sunbathing females from his sixth floor penthouse suite; and on the right, is Sunset Boulevard, aka “The Strip.”



Zooming in you can see a construction fence surrounding the property that once housed the Garden of Allah Hotel from 1927-1959; it was replaced by the Lytton Savings bank, which has now been torn down to make way for a mixed-use development designed by Frank Gehry, who claims his renderings were inspired by the Garden of Allah.

I was in LA when the Garden of Allah existed, and with this project, I wanted to capture the feeling of the experience of that place which was vibrant and memorable. It has always been important to me to respect this history while also creating something of our time.

Based on the renderings that have been revealed so far, I do not see any correlation between the two projects.



So for now, the lot sits empty, awaiting its fate.



Will the Gehry project ever get off the ground? Or now that the Lytton Savings has been torn down, avoiding any future obstacles with the preservationists, will it appear back on the market for sale again?



Here’s what the property looked like during my last visit in April (above) and from 2017 (below).



Directly across the street from the Chateau is the former office of Jay Ward Productions, where the famous statue of Rocky and Bullwinkle once rotated for all to see along Sunset Boulevard. Hollywood Hounds and PoshPetCare have “left the building” and this place also has a construction fence around it. 



Unfortunately my camera was on the wrong setting, so I didn’t get a detailed enough shot to be able to tell if the elbow prints left by local journalists and a few Jay Ward employees in 1961-1962 are still there, but it appears that they could be.



How the property looked in 2012 when it was Hollywood Hounds and Bullwinkle was still there with his little pal, Rocky (somewhat obscured by a palm tree):



See more of my Sunset Boulevard photos at my website.

The Return of Rocky and Bullwinkle!

From 1961 to 2013, the famous rotating statue of Rocky and Bullwinkle resided across the street from my favorite Hollywood haunt the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard. The statue and the pose was inspired by the short-lived larger-than-life rotating Vegas Showgirl that stood in front of the Marmont.

“Rocky and his Friends/The Bullwinkle Show” aired from 1959 to 1964 and eventually developed into a cult classic (we can ignore the box office disaster live-action version from 2000). The 14-foot, 700-pound came to be when the animated series switched networks in 1961; creator and producer Jay Ward felt that the event should be publicized, so he hired artist Bill Oberlin to create the statue and placed it outside the Jay Ward Productions offices at 8218 Sunset  Boulevard. Bullwinkle wore a Gay Nineties striped swimsuit, which parodied the cowgirl/showgirl statue across the street.

The statue was dedicated on September 24, 1961 by Jayne Mansfield, who unveiled Rocky and Bullwinkle for over 5,000 attendees. The shows' writers and voice actors pressed their elbows into wet cement around the base of the statue; Jay Ward asked for elbow prints instead of the usual hand prints so that no one would spill their martinis. Every time the spinning cowgirl's outfit changed so did Bullwinkle’s. The showgirl was taken down in the early 1970s (to be replaced by the Marlboro Man). By 1990, Jay Ward was dead and the motor for the rotation had ceased to work, but the statue itself remained until July 22, 2013 when it was removed from its Sunset Boulevard home. 

What had happened to the lovable duo? They were being restored by artist Ric Scozzari, with funding by 20th Century-Fox and Dreamworks, and donated by the Jay Ward family for the City of West Hollywood’s Urban Art Collection. After appearances in Beverly Hills at the Paley Center in 2014 and West Hollywood’s City Hall in 2016, the Rocky and Bullwinkle statue disappeared again. Ric and his team of plasterers, welders, fabricators, painters, and finishers continued their work, stripping off layers of paint, gunk, and rust, and studying old photos of the statue to get every original detail correct.

On February 29, 2020, Rocky and Bullwinkle finally returned to Sunset Boulevard, standing in a traffic triangle at Holloway Drive and Sunset Boulevard, about a mile west of their former spot. Ric said that the restored statue looks almost exactly as it did in 1961, down to the number of stripes on Bullwinkle’s suit and the seven hairs on top of his head. The only difference is that Rocky and Bullwinkle stand on a lower pedestal, and Ric lowered the gaze of Rocky and Bullwinkle's eyes so that they can smile at their fans.  

The day I saw it, the statue was not rotating.

Still, it was good to see this goofy piece of pop culture back again after so long.

See more Sunset Boulevard photos at my main website.

Sunset Boulevard Hotels, 1957

Travel back in time with Daveland to Hollywood's famed Sunset Boulevard, circa 1957. In this first image, you can see The Chateau Marmont on the left (still kickin'!) and The Garden of Allah on the right (bulldozed for a lousy strip mall).

This detailed view zeroes in on the Chateau, with the 6th Floor Penthouse suite visible on the right:



This detailed view shows a ginormous revolving Las Vegas showgirl statue that advertised the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from 1957-1966. She was eventually replaced by a Marlboro Man Billboard.



Across the street in 1961, this Bullwinkle and Rocky statue (inspired by the short-lived Vegas Showgirl) was unveiled by Jayne Mansfield for the opening of the Jay Ward offices. The statue was removed last summer for a much needed refurbishment. Hope it comes back soon!



Back to our initial image, here's a detailed view of the Garden of Allah hotel:



For a front view of the hotel, here's an image from the USC digital archives:



Down the street a bit is the Sunset Tower, seen in this 1957 view:



Gotta' zoom in for a detailed view of the vintage cars:



Today, the Sunset Tower is still in operation (albeit with a few name changes along the way).



I guess 2 out of 3 survivors isn't too bad for Hollywood!

See more vintage & current Chateau Marmont photos on my main website.