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.

BANANA FANA FO FANA

Minions love bananas. And it looks like Hollywood's famed Cinerama Dome theater on Sunset Boulevard is under siege by three of these oversized underlings (looks like Stuart, Kevin & Bob) staring in rapt desire at the object of their affections: a ginormous banana. The minons of the "Despicable Me" animated films are now the stars of their own movie, and the Cinerama Dome has been turned banana-yellow in honor of the occasion.

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.

 

GENERIC GENTRIFICATION

April, 2015

In a temporary art installation titled: "Projection," French artist Vincent Lamouroux has taken the creepy, long-abandoned Sunset Pacific Motel in Silverlake, Ca. (nicknamed "Bates Motel" by locals due to its Sunset Blvd/Bates Street location as well its crime-filled history) and painted it totally white.

Not painted, exactly, but covered every inch of the property - including nearby palm trees and billboard - with white, lime powder paint (environmentally friendly lime-wash which wear off over time and doesn't harm the trees).

The notorious Sunset Pacific Motel at 4301 West Sunset Blvd

"Bates Motel" given a temporary facelift

The Sunset Pacific Motel has been a neighborhood eyesore and public nuisance crime-magnet since it was shuttered in 2002. Currently slated for demolition, its new, temporary status as living art installation has been heralded in official press as a site which, "...induces both an appearance and disappearance. It revisits our existing landscape with new eyes and envisions the building's new surfaces as screens for the projection of our desires."  

Pre-Art

Post-Art

However, savvy longtime Silverlake residents, aware of the area's recent gentrification and the gradual influx of middle-class hipsters into the area, wonder if perhaps the artist is actually making a vivid statement about a neighborhood literally being whitewashed. 

FOUNTAIN OF KOO KOO

This enormous fountain, depicting a globe with a broadcast antennae holding an eternal flame, is located outside of the Faith Center in Glendale California.

INTO THE (HOLLY)WOODS

Hollywood's El Capitan Theater, an ornate movie palace located across the street from Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd, was built in 1926. Owned now by Disney Studios, the El Capitan was the site of the Christmas Day opening of the 2014 movie adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. Theater patrons are welcomed with a serenade of classic Disnet tunes played on a refurbished 1939 Wurlitzer Theater Organ, and on the occasion of Into the Woods' limited run, treated to an exclusive display of props and costumes from the film.

Jack's slingshot, The Magic Beans, and the Giant's Gold Coins

The Latin motto inscribed along the edges of the coin reads: FABER EST SUAE QUISQUE FORTUNAE (roughly translated: "Every man is the architect of his own fate") -  a quote attributed to ancient Roman politician,  Appius Claudius Caecus (340 BC - 273 BC)

Cinderella's Wedding Bouquet, The Golden Egg stolen from The Giant, Rapunzel's Hair Brush

Costumes by three-time Oscar-winning designer Colleen Atwood (Chicago, Alice in Wonderland, Memoirs of a Geisha)

The Witch's Costume 

Cinderella's Stepmother and Stepsisters

Costume for Jack's Mother. And a guest appearance by Milky White, the Cow

Costumes for The Baker, Rapunzel, and Rapunzel's Prince

ABANDON ALL HOPE (if you have a dog)

Entrance to Grand Hope Park in Downtown Los Angeles. The pleasant, no dogs allowed park is situated between Hope and Grand Streets in front of  FIDM (The Fashion Institute of Fashion and Merchandising).