FACE-LIFTED FACADES

These Hollywood buildings are still standing, just no longer as the business pictured here.

The Ivar Theater on Ivar St. between Hollywood and Sunset Blvd - photo 1980
Opened in 1951 as a legitimate theater. Turned to a burlesque house in the mid-'70s.
Adjacent to it on the right is the old Hollywood Branch Library, which was torn down in 1985. In 2002 the facade of the Ivar was renovated and space operated by the California Youth Theater.

Hollywood Blvd Chicken Delight 

Morgan Camera Shop on Sunset Blvd near Vine

AND THERE YOU ARE, A SHOOTING STAR

Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) frontman, producer, songwriter, and all-around music legend Jeff Lynne was awarded his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 23, 2015. 

Located in front of the Capitol Records building on Vine St., the star was kissed by the muse Kira (aka, Terpsichore) from the 1980 film "Xanadu" (for which Lynne composed many of the songs, including the hit title track) who put in a welcome, if self-promoting appearance.

 

Majestic

1981  Majestic Car Wash and Joe's Big Burger on Third Street near Crescent Heights in Hollywood, Ca.
Fave: Billboard for the forgotten (and kind of terrible) Bruce Dern film, Tattoo.

NEON LOS ANGELES

The 80s were the heyday of neon signs in Los Angeles. Melrose Avenue and Third Street were especially incandescent.

Neon Jungle

Examples of Los Angeles Neon from the 1980s

Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace, located on the corners of Santa Monica Blvd & La Cienega Blvd. in West Hollywood, CA. was briefly the real-life embodiment of the kind of roller skating nightclub immortalized in the 1980 film "Xanadu". This photo was taken in 1980, not long before it closed in 1981, making way for an ESPIRIT clothing store. Today it is the site of a drug store.