Archive for the ‘Hollywood’ Category

1941 Fairfax High School Yearbook Photos featuring Ricardo Montalban

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

In 1941, actor Ricardo Montalban, best known as Mr. Roarke on the television show Fantasy Island, attended school at Fairfax High School in Hollywood CA; taking public speaking and theater courses so the Mexican born, future Chrysler Cordoba pitchman could become more fluent in the English language.

In this Youtube Video Montalban talks about his days at Fairfax, where he earned rave reviews playing the lead in the Senior PlayTovarich.

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As seen on TV: the CNN building in 1968

Friday, July 17th, 2009

If you drive around Hollywood very much, you’re probably familiar with the CNN building. It’s on Sunset Blvd, just west of Amoeba Records.

The address is 6430 W. Sunset Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028. Below is a picture of the south side of the building taken from Cole Place.

CNN back

I’ve been watching the Mod Squad on DVD lately. And while watching the episode “The Price of Terror” (Season 1, Volume 1, Disc 3), I was pleasantly surprised to see that they used this building as a location when it was being built in 1968.

On the bottom right corner of the above picture you can see the Capitol Records tower.

Hey look, there’s the Cinerama Dome. The Sunset & Vine Tower is behind it. And there on the left is the building that was torn down to make way for Amoeba Records!

And where there is now an Office Depot, there was once a Pep Boys. What’ya know? There is also a really great shot from the top of the building and you see the southern part of Hollywood, Baldwin Hills, etc. So be sure to rent (or buy) this DVD.

Also, I checked the 1973 Los Angeles City Directory for business listings at this building and were are some of the more notable inhabitants: Paramount Records (Paramount Picture’s record co.), The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (the Grammy people), Irving Berlin Music (publishing co.), Dick James Music (he published songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney), Artisan Sound Recorders (one of the best record mastering labs in L.A.), and Goodson & Todman Productions (the people that gave us such gameshow’s as The Price Is Right and.. my favorite.. Match Game). Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Summers have probably been in this building.

Legendary Jazz Nightclub in Hollywood: Billy Berg’s Night Club

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Billy Bergs

1356 N. Vine Street. Hollywood, CA. 90028

Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker introduced Los Angeles to Bebop in the building that sits here on the southeastern corner of Vine Street and De Longpre Ave in Hollywood. In the 1940’s it housed Billy Berg’s Night Club; where in addition to Gillespie and Parker, you could also see such legends as Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday, Frankie Lane, and the house band, the Nat King Cole Trio.