Searching for Old Hollywood

As New York has Times Square so Los Angeles has Hollywood.

As New York has Times Square so Los Angeles has Hollywood. The Walk of Fame (begun in 1958), stretching along Hollywood Boulevard and several blocks up and down Vine Street in either direction, and the Dolby Theater where the Oscars are held are a tourist mecca. Next door to the theater is a hotel with an adjoining shopping center. The centerpiece of which is a multi-levelled courtyard inspired by the ancient Babylon set built for the silent epic Intolerance. This entertainment complex sits at the corner of Hollywood and Highland, which was formerly the site of the historic Hollywood Hotel. The world famous Hollywood sign sits atop the nearby Hollywood Hills. A century ago D.W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille began making movies in this sleepy little farming community. While Europe was embroiled in war, Hollywood captured the world's imagination. A hundred years later the word remains synonymous with The Movies.

If you are going to sightsee along the Walk of Fame you'd better be an early riser. Three Movie Buffs were up at the crack of dawn and out on the nearly deserted sidewalk of dreams. Even the many panhandlers who dress up as famous movie characters and pose (for a cash tip) for photographs with tourists weren't out working the pavement yet. In the early morning light we strolled along the boulevard pointing out the stars of our favorites as we went. “There's Swanson, there's Cagney, there's Jean Harlow.”

We reached the iconic corner of Hollywood and Vine and posed for the obligatory pictures under the street sign. Historically Vine is one of Tinsel Town's most significant streets although today it holds very little of interest. It is where D. W. Griffith shot part of the first movie ever made in Hollywood. It was a two-reeler called In Old California and the year was 1910. A commemorative monument was erected in 2004 at 1713 Vine St., just north of Hollywood Blvd. If you cross Hollywood and head south on Vine for several blocks you will come to the location where Cecil B. DeMille filmed the very first feature length movie in Hollywood 3 years later in 1913. It was called The Squaw Man and the barn-turned-studio it was shot in has long since been demolished. They razed movie history and put up a parking lot.

By this time the sun was rising overhead and the sidewalks were beginning to get crowded. Aggressive guides hawked tours as we headed back towards the historic Chinese Theater. We saw the courtyard with all the famous hand and foot prints. A tradition begun in 1927. Almost all of the greats are there. Norma Talmadge, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were the first stars to leave their immortal prints in cement. Gloria Swanson, Charles Chaplin and Joan Crawford soon followed. Harold Lloyd left the imprint of his eyeglasses, while cowboy stars Tom Mix and William S. Hart left gun prints and John Barrymore his famous profile. Jimmy Durante and Bob Hope likewise face-planted their impressive noses in cement while Groucho Marx used his cigar. The glamor of Hollywood's past rises like ether from the courtyard; Shirley Temple, Bing Crosby, Gable, Loy, Tyrone Power, Fred & Ginger, and Mickey & Judy, and on and on.

Later on we toured the Dolby Theater, walking where the stars mingle on the movie industry's biggest night and listened to a few well-rehearsed anecdotes about the behind the scenes drama of recent ceremonies from our handsome blonde guide. We also saw a movie at the famous -and fully restored- El Capitan Theater that stands directly across Hollywood Boulevard from where the Oscar red carpet is set up every year.

No trip to Hollywood would be complete without dinner at Musso and Frank's Grill. In operation since September 1919 it remains the oldest restaurant in Hollywood and has been patronized by nearly every major movie star (as well as numerous legendary literary figures) of the past century. The place drips with history and atmosphere. Just down the street stands the oldest of Hollywood's ornate movie palaces. Grauman's Egyptian Theatre opened its doors in 1922 for the world premiere of Douglas Fairbanks's Robin Hood. Musso and Frank and the Egyptian Theater have witnessed more Hollywood history than any other businesses along the Walk of Fame. Both were already in operation way back in those early halcyon days when Doug Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin used to horse race down Hollywood Boulevard.

Old Hollywood is still around, if you know where to look, and can bring some imagination.

I'd wager that the majority of tourists who come to Hollywood hope to see modern day movie and television stars. For those like Three Movie Buffs who yearn for the glamor and nostalgia of the Golden Age there are still plenty of things to see. It certainly helps if you have at least a modicum of imagination and a sense of romance. There are a few small museums and gift shops with old movie memorabilia but what is really needed is what Debbie Reynolds tried to do for years before she finally gave up and sold her collection - and that is create a Motion Picture Hall of Fame where the majority of artifacts such as scripts, props and costumes can be displayed in one place for the movie loving public. We already have a Baseball and a Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame; surely America's movie heritage is just as valuable.