WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT?

This theater marquee that has seen better days represents the last gasps of what started in 1940 as the Monica Theater at 7734 Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood (before it became West Hollywood, of course). A neighborhood theater showing 2nd run major motion pictures, it was briefly an arthouse, showing foreign films before, in 1968, it changed its name to the Left Bank Theater and went into the nudies game.

In 1970 it became the flagship theater of the adult film Pussycat Theater chain and remained so until the '90s when it became a gay adult theater and changed its name (appropriately enough) to the Tom Kat. 2006 saw Mr. Tom Kat make way for STUDS, and after that, it just seemed a slow but inexorable slide to obsolescence. The above photo, post-COVID, reflects the theater's 2022 fate.

Whatever lies in store for the empty space now, I hope someone holds on to the "celebrity" footprints of the deceased legends of the "porno chic" '70s that grace the front courtyard. 

John Holmes / nee John Curtis Estes (1944 -1988)

Linda Lovelace / nee Linda Susan Boreman (1949 - 2002)

Harry Reems / nee Herbert John Streicher ( 1947 - 2013)

Marilyn Chambers / nee Marilyn Ann Taylor (1952 - 2009)

OH, WHAT A TANGLED WEB

 The Jeremy Hotel in West Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. at La Cienega is joined by a web-like, netting art installation by Janet Echelman titled "Dream Weaver."  At night the 10-story fiber structure is lit by multicolored LED lights.

SUMMER IN THE CITY

West Hollywood interactive art installation titled "Kalidoscope" by Daveed Kapoor & Rob Barry is composed of color mirrored acrylic squares. It's one of a series of  micro-parks throughout the city

An enormous "Rosemary's Baby"-inspired banner poster for the film "Mother!" overlooks Wilshire Blvd

Halloween came early to Hollywood when late August 2017 saw the materialization of the dreaded Neilbolt Street house from Stephen King's "IT" on the corner of Hollywood & Vine. A haunted house tour called "The IT Experience," it's a promotional attraction for the September release of the theatrical motion picture remake of  "IT."  King's book was initially made into a TV movie in 1990.

GIMME SHELTER

 In the summer of 2017, select West Hollywood citizens were treated to the company of animatronic vultures and bobcats perched atop bus shelters throughout the city. They were eye-catching promotion displays for the Netflix series "Ozark."

BREAKING MY BACK PUTTING UP A FRONT FOR YOU

Warner Bros. Studios - Burbank

West Hollywood Library mural by Shepard Fairey

Pantages Theater, Hollywood Blvd

Hollywood Stars Mosaic Facade of the Home & Savings Bank (currently CHASE)
on the corner of Sunset & Vine in Hollywood. Built in 1968

GREAT BIG STUFF

18-ft. tal, wooden "Fork in the Road" at the literal fork in the road of  St. John's Place & Pasadena Avenue in Pasadena, Ca. 

A trio of giant-sized jellybeans are sprinkled on the lawn of West Hollywood Park at San Vincente. The art installation titled, "Love Your Bean," is a work by artist Cosimo Cavallaro.

"Giant Fake Leica" is an art sculpture situated in the Leica LA store in Beverly Hills, Ca. Sculpture is by Liao Yibai.

It's Been A Pleasure to Serve You

The Pleasure Chest (Toys for Big Girls & Boys) in West Hollywood, Ca. celebrates it's 40th Anniversary

NEON LOS ANGELES

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

Perches

Giant Chair Art Installation at the Pacific Design Center
West Hollywood, CA.

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.

Hot Neon

The Starwood Night Club in West Hollywood, Ca. around 1980 when it was a showcase for punk bands. It closed down after a fire in 1981. Currently an ugly little corner mall on Santa Monica Blvd.

Sign that used to adorn the Jim Morris Gym in West Hollywood, Ca. Photo taken in 1981. Was located right next to the former home of FLIPPER'S ROLLER BOOGIE PALACE on Santa Monica Blvd.

Sign for The Pleasure Chest adult fetish superstore on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, CA.  1981

In 1981 Melrose Avenue was flooded in neon, and one of the more animated signs was this active one for FLIP used clothing store.

The Tropicana Motel was a popular motel for rock bands, tourists, and burn-outs - located on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, Ca. Photo is from 1981. It was torn down in 1988. Currently the site of one of the ugliest hotels ever built. Dukes coffee shop, which was next door to the motel, had the best chocolate cake in town.

Another example of Los Angeles Neon 1981

Sign for the Gold Cost bar in West Hollwood, Ca., taken in 1981. Bar has been there as long as I've been in Los Angeles (since 1978) and I suspect it will still be there long after I'm gone.

Sign says it all. 1981, Los Angeles Ca.