West Hollywood

Not one to let a good meme die, I figured I'd take a look at the history of other LA neighborhoods, and the landmarks they contributed to this 1937 Hollywood Star Map. Having already tackled the Los Feliz/Silverlake/Griffith Park area, we'll move on down the road to West Hollywood. In my Carthay Circle Theater/Red Car article, I mentioned that Sunset Junction took it's name from a Red Car stop and that West Hollywood actually began as a railroad town. This KCET article has the scoop, but I'll pull out the relevant details.

One of Southern California's first electric interurban railroads was the Pasadena and Pacific, stretching from LA to Santa Monica in the Cahuenga Valley; it is now Santa Monica blvd. The railway was constructed in part by Moses H. Sherman. Because rail cars need servicing, Sherman built a small yard midway on the line and the yard workers bought lots around the yard to build houses on. The town was named after its founder Sherman.

Sherman was just outside the boarders of Hollywood, which was an independent city from 1903-1910 before it was annexed by the city of LA. Sherman, as well other Hollywood adjacent town Colegrove housed some of the spillover from Hollywood; sets and studios and nightclubs.

Of course, one can attract Hollywood types better with a name like West Hollywood than Sherman so in 1925 the city voted to officially change it's name. I love this bit:

The August 23, 1925 Los Angeles Times reported on the controversy: "Like a healthy, outdoor child, Sherman has suddenly burst all her old dresses and thinks while she is getting a wardrobe, suitable for a fully grown girl, she might as well discard plain 'Mary' and become up-to-date 'Marie.'"

Looking at the Stars map from 1937, we can see that many of West Hollywood's landmarks were nightclub related. For instance, there was the 1934 night club Cafe Trocadero.

Cafe Trocadero, 1930s. Photo LAPL

It might not look like much, but that Sunset Strip hotspot was the place to be if you wanted to jitterbug. The club was founded by William Wilkerson, who was famous for founding The Hollywood Reporter. He also owned nearby clubs Ciro and LaRue, which were not cool enough to make it onto the Stars map. Because it was frequented by Fred Astaire, Cary Grant and the like it was popular for Hollywood movie premier parties. 

Cock and Bull, 1940s

If you were looking for a Halloween party, or just for a good British pub, you might want to check out the Cock and Bull. Here the lovely Diane Smith bobs for apples as her apples bob (hi-o!) in a fairy tame Halloween environment. The Cock and Bull was founded not by an Englishman but an Anglophile named Jack Morgan. It was a more informal place than the other Sunset Strip night houses, where autograph hounds and paparazzi weren't allowed inside. It closed down in 1987, long after the Trocadero was a parking lot. 

It wasn't just nightclubs that you'd find in West Hollywood. It was also a place for some high end restaurants. Bit of Sweden is just one such place, but when it was marked on the map with a viking I just couldn't rest. Love that not only is it serving up Swedish favorites, but doing it smorgasbord style.

Back down on Santa Monica Blvd. the Pacific Electric railway continued to run cars until 1941. Not an incorporated city, not annexed by LA, and with it's Hollywood nightlife declining - West Hollywood was ripe for a demographic change. By 1984, the town had become a haven for gays and lesbians in Los Angeles. Almost twenty years after a police raid at the Black Cat club in Sunset Junction, and four years after the first Sunset Junction Street Fair, West Hollywood voted for incorporation and a majority of openly gay city council members. 

What I love about West Hollywood (beyond the obvious) is that it shows the fluid nature of communities. From rail yard to movie star hot spot to immigrant neighborhood to openly gay community. 

Anyhow, since we've done East Hollywood and West Hollywood, I guess we can do South Hollywood (Colgrove Addition) next. See y'all soon

Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and Griffith Park

It's become clear to me as I've continued to write in this blog, that despite my initial fascination with the organization D LA (it's roads and trains and phone connections), I am truly a child of this company town. The history of theater and motion pictures and television broadcasts, back when cities were concentrated entities this defined Los Angeles. It still is a company town, but Broadway, Hollywood Blvd, the movie palaces have all been allowed to decay. Which to me is a bit sad.

As a result, I love it when I get pulled to look at another aspect of Los Angeles. Disneyland inspired me to write about Carthay Circle, and it's my other happy place that's inspiring today's entry; The LA Zoo.

Since I've written much about Hollywood and Downtown, I want to make sure I start from the beginning when talking about Griffith Park - since it really is an important part of Los Angeles history. I'll be referring (in my head) frequently to this star map from 1937, and going through the landmarks east of Hollywood. KCET linked to this map as context for a showing of A Star is Born (1937)

While most people know feliz from the phrase Feliz Navidad, in this case Los Feliz actually refers to Rancho Los Feliz; a 6,647 (27 square kilometers) acre land grant given to Corporal Jose Vicente Feliz by the Spanish government. His adobe house, built in 1830, still stands in Griffith Park on Crystal Springs drive.

That ranch got broken down into many parts. There is the 7 km-squared neighborhood of Los Feliz. Down the road is the 7 km-squared neighborhood of Silver Lake. Silver Lake is named for one of two concrete reservoirs in the neighborhood. That reservoir in turn is named for water board commissioner Herman Silver. The Silver Lake reservoir provides water for 600,000 Los Angeles households.

Walt Disney Studios on Hyperion, photo LAPL

East of the very large Silver Lake reservoir and the smaller Ivanhoe reservoir sat Walt Disney's original studio on Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake neighborhood. This photo is from 1936, one year before the release of Snow White. Disney had purchased the studio in 1925, and it's here in 1928 that Disney created Mickey Mouse and stared producing a series of Silly Symphonies type shorts. Snow White was also animated here, and the revenue from that movie was used to purchase the Burbank studio. Of course, if you read my last article, Hyperion Theater was the name given to the centerpiece of California Adventure's Hollywood area. 

Further north, at the corner of Los Feliz blvd and Riverside Dr. sat Victor McLaglen Field. McLaglen was a film star in the 1920s and 30s, and the field hosted equestrian events like polo and rodeos. 

North of both neighborhoods lies the immense Griffith Park. Colonel Griffith James Griffith (must be good to be a Colonel) acquired 16.5 square kilometers of Los Feliz in 1882. Griffith donated 12.2 square kilometers of that land to the city as Griffith Park.

Now in 1910, the City of LA annexed 7112 acres of land (the Los Feliz grant was 6,647 acres) as the East Hollywood edition (Hollywood was annexed weeks earlier). This chunk of land contained the whole rancho, which included a stretch of the LA river, the reservoirs, and Griffith Park. 

Greek Theater, Los Feliz 1937. Photo LAPL

Here's one of the centerpieces of Griffith Park, the Greek Theater. A 5,700 seat amphitheater built in 1929, and paid for by Colonel Griffith. Like the park, it belongs to the City of Los Angeles. The stage is modeled after a Greek temple, and designed for great outdoor acoustics. It's been used for concerts, plays, and graduations over the years. I saw Silversun Pickups here for the first time, a really great concert. 

Griffith Observatory, photo LAPL

Griffith also lends his name to the observatory, atop one of the park's many hills. Opened to the public in 1935, the observatory contains not only the great telescope, but an exhibit hall and a planetarium. It's one of the great LA landmarks, made popular around the country in James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause. There is a memorial to the deceased star at the observatory. 

LA Zookeeper, 1910

Not featured on the map but also in Griffith Park is the little bit that started this entry, the LA Zoo. The original zoo also bore Griffith's name. It opened in 1912 as the Griffith Park Zoo, about two miles south of the Zoo's current location. As you can see in the photo, zookeepers looked a bit different 100 years ago. The LA Zoo has long been a red headed stepchild compared to the leading So Cal Zoo in San Diego, although it has stepped up offerings in recent years. It's a favorite of media darling Betty White, and many other Hollywood philanthropists. 

So there you have it, one of the first ranchos in Los Angeles remains a natural preserve just north of downtown and east of Hollywood. Easy to ignore, it's an important cultural spot in Los Angeles, and one of my favorite places. And to think, most of it was built by WWII.