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)

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.

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.

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

Orange You Glad?

The Wonderful Halos Citrus Storage building in Delano, CA.

Along California's Highway 99, the packing plant for Wonderful Halos mandarin oranges converted its building into the world's largest Halos orange carton. It's said to be 80 feet high and 11, 00 square feet.

  

THE DOCTOR IS IN

Located in Brand Park in Glendale, Doctors House Museum and Gazebo is a Victorian house built in 1888 that was home to four different families of physicians. Originally located on Wilson Avenue, the house was moved in 1979 to Brand Park where it was renovated and opened as a museum in 1984. Tours are held, and the museum features displays of Victorian era artifacts. 

The house was the home of silent screen star Nell Shipman from 1970 to 1920

CRUISING ON SUNSET BLVD

Crossroads of the World - Hollywood's first Shopping Mall
Located at 6671 Sunset Blvd and extending north to Selma, the Disney-esque outdoor shopping mall, Crossroads of the World, is an collection of buildings (retail stores and studios) recreating the architecture of various parts of the world, all surrounding the center structure/building, which resembles an ocean liner.
In May of 2015, plans were announced for an extensive redevelopment of Crossroads and the surrounding area.

HOLLYWOOD SIGNS

The famed Hollywood Sign, atop Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hills

Sign on the Home Depot retail store on Sunset Blvd. near Western in Hollywood, Ca.

Hollywood and Highland 

BRIDGE WORK

The New San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge

 

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

OF PARAMOUNT CONCERN

The Hollywood Heritage Museum 

2100  North Highland, Hollywood, CA

The museum is housed in the landmark Lasky-Demille Barn, a refurbished 1895 structure considered to be one of Hollywood's first film studios. Original leaseholders Jesse Lansky and Cecil B. DeMille, the building is considered the birthplace of what would later be Paramount Studios.

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

The Ellwood Butterfly Preserve in Santa Barbara, Ca. 

A beautiful hiking path and grove of eucalyptus trees. Home to hundreds of beautiful monarch butterflies.

Celebrity Sightings

Even a she-beast has to watch her figure.
The Bride of Frankenstein considers her healthy food options at a Fresh and Easy market in Hollywood

Off-season Santa Claus abandons the cold of the North Pole and settles into a modest home in Hollywood. The newly installed satellite dish assures of an entertainment-filled downtime until December 25th!

Flipper: The Retirement Years

Lady Liberty's shorter (about 30 ft), fatter sister, lives in El Monte, California and can usually be seen outside of the city's Civic Center. If the weather is good.

One of the stars from ABC's hit 2011 TV show "Pan Am" was so excited at the show's unexpected leap in ratings, she literally jumped out of her costume. That moment is commemorated in this bus shelter ad in West Hollywood, Ca,

After the flop release of their debut film "Doctor Dolittle" in 1968, beloved Hollywood power-couple, The Pushmi-Pullyu, soon divorced. Here is Pushmi (or Pullyu) at his retirement home in Chowchilla, Ca.