THE AGE OF AQUARIUS

When the Broadway hit "Hair" came to Los Angles for an extended run in 1968 (for two years, in fact), it opened at The Earl Carroll Theater on Sunset Blvd. The Theater, in operation since 1938 under various names, changed its name to The Aquarius Theater in 1968 and underwent a psychedelic facelift. In 2018, director Quentin Tarantino, for his forthcoming film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," restored the exterior of the now-abandoned theater to its late-'60s glory.

The Aquarius Theater as it looked in 1968 --Photo by Richard Wojcik

The Tarantino production has been delighting locals and tourists alike with surprising recreations of Los Angeles, circa the summer of 1969, throughout the city. Here, the Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd. is outfitted with a marquee for "3 in the Attic" and other period-perfect posters.

NO BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE

The El Royale Apartments on Rossmore and Rosewood in Hollywood was built in 1929 by William Douglas Lee (designer of The Chateau Marmont on Sunset Blvd). The El Royale is now a designated Historical Cultural Monument and was home to notables like George Raft, Loretta Young, and William Faulkner.

YESTERDAY ONCE MORE

 Throughout the summer of 2018, various locations around Hollywood were transformed into the summer of 1969 for director Quentin Tarantino's forthcoming film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."  Here the Paramount studios on Melrose display posters for 1969 movie releases.

SOME LIKE IT HOT - SOME LIKE IT COLD

Both on La Brea Avenue in Hollywood

HOT

COLD

 

HOLLYWOOD BABYLON

The Hollywood and Highland Shopping Center (mall) with its design inspired by the Gates of Babylon set from D.W. Griffith's 1916 film "Intolerance." Built in 2001, the elephants, pillars and archway - towering minimally some three stories high - are identical in scale to the sets of the original classic silent film.

The "Intolerance" Babylon set. Built in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles (today, the site of the Vista Theater).

WHO NEEDS OSCAR?

The Four Ladies of Hollywood statues creating the Hollywood Gateway on the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and La Brea. A stainless steel gazebo structure was created by Catherine Hardwicke, and unveiled in 1993. Atop the structure of these female forms reminiscent of the Academy Award Oscar, is a weathervane Marilyn Monroe.

Mae West

Dorothy Dandridge

Anna May Wong

Dolores Del Rio

I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU

A giant, Converse-clad foot kicks through the roof of a Fairfax Avenue retail clothing store