CAPITOL RECORDS DID CELELBRATE THE TOWER'S ANNIVERSARY!

I got a copy of this invite emailed to the Tower Staff from a few people at Capitol today.

"Today we have a very special occasion to celebrate at the Tower.
On this day 50 years ago, the Capitol Tower opened its doors.
For the past 50 years, Capitol Records has conducted business in the Tower and we have seen some of the greatest recording artists of the last century come through our doors.

For those of you who love the Tower and the music it has represented over the past 50 years, please join us at 2:00 p.m. for cake in the Gogerty courtyard.

One of our former employees put together a Web site with the history of the Tower. http://popculturefanboy.blogspot.com."

I'm glad I was able to get some people fed! :) Hopefully, someone who was there will send me a photo (HINT! HINT!).

Ironically, I was outside the Tower at about 1:30 in between job interviews.

There was a security guard in front. I asked if they still had pamphlets about the tower for tourists. He said they stopped doing that after 9-11. I was working at the Tower when there was a bomb scare that evacuated the building right after 9-11 so I could understand. He was posted outside the doors going to the lobby, so it looks like tourists can't come in to look at the Gold Records anymore. I told him about the anniversary and showed him the exact spot where Wallichs and Morse stood to light the beacon. I then noticed that inlaid into the floor outside the entry to the lobby where the words "THE CAPITOL TOWER", so maybe I should go back and edit a few things to use the correct name. "Ouch" The things I forget.

This was the first time I had been back on the sidewalks around the Tower since 2001 so it was interesting to see how the addition connecting the Tower to the Gogerty Building finished up. One nice thing is that where Buddy DeSylva's star is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame used to be the exit of the parking lot. Now, with the addition there, at least his star isn't getting run over all the time. A nice touch on the addition is that the lighting fixtures along the outside of the Tower that can be seen in some of the opening day photos were reproduced for the exterior of the addition. The Gogerty Building exterior looks great, although I miss the old restaurant that was along the Yucca side. I was able to walk through the building before it was gutted with Capitol's then creative director Tommy Steele and it was in pretty sad shape. The upper floor that at one time was Fred Astaire's dance studio and later was Hollywood Rainbow Color Separators, was being squatted in with no running water. And, more irony here, a chrome proof of a job that I had designed for Delicious Vinyl was laying on the floor in pretty clean shape amidst all the filth.

Along with visiting the Tower, I also had time to stop by a few of Capitol's former homes. Where the door leading up to Capitol's first office just south of Sunset and Vine was is now the down ramp into the parking lot of the Bank of America next to the Arclight Cinemas. Next stop was to the former location of Wallichs' Music City. The ground floor where the store was is now a Borders with a rounded front that echoes the front of Music City in the '40s and '50s. Walking through the store it was nice to see rows of music and books where the old record bins were. The back of the store goes out to what used to be the alleyway of the Tropics restaurant and later one of the homes of Tom Breneman's "Breakfast in Hollywood" radio show. Later Tom moved up the street into the former Hollywood Recreation Center, Bowling Alley, TAV Building, etc. They kept the facade of the front of the building and there's now a "Schwab's" neon sign were there used to be the ABC Broadcasting sign that you see in th old postcards. It doesn't look like the new Schwab's in open any longer as it's windows were papered over. The main entrance of the building is now called the Presidential Entrance leading to the lobby of the new condos of the site. I whistled the tune of "My Bonnie" in front of it as that used to be Breneman's theme.

I walked back a bit south on Vine to what used to be the entrance to the lobby of Capitol's 2nd home. It's now an EA Games shop. Walking in, the size of the space is about the same as photos I have of the lobby. I imagined the staircase to the right that led up to the offices, lined with the photos of Capitol's artists. I told the guy behind the counter about what used to be where his shop is and said he hadn't heard that before.

I then walked back up north on Vine to catch my bus, passing what used to be Clara Bow's It Cafe. It's now the Original Coney Island cafe and shop. Looking across the street, Bernard's Luggage and the Hollywood Import House are still there, but for who knows how long. Last I heard everything from the south east corner of Hollywood and Vine down to Selma and over to Argyle, except for the Taft Building is going to be demolished for retail and condo space. Looking down, I noticed Jo Stafford's star on the Walk of Fame is right across the street from the parking lot that used to be the Brown Derby. The Derby was where Stafford's husband, Paul Weston, along with Lloyd Dunn, Jim Conklin, Sonny Burke, Jesse Kaye, Henri Rene and Dennis Faron met on May 28, 1957 to form the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. There's another 50th anniversary waiting to be blogged, hee, hee. The Broadway Building is still under renovation to also be turned into condos. The Broadway Building used to house Capitol's Transcription Service and a few other departments. It also used to have a neon sign attached to its corner that read "Hollywood and Vine" that can be seen in some old postcards along with a few Capitol publicity photos that were used in Capitol's 50th Anniversary book for 1992 and on there old hollywoodandvine.com website. Kitty corner to the Broadway, the Equitable building is also being turned into condos called "The Lofts at Hollywood & Vine". The Hollywood and Vine restaurant is still there and now, where Tips used to be, is the Vine Street Lounge which looks like it might have outdoor seating in the alley next to The Forbidden City restaurant next door.

Heading for the bus stop, I noticed that the exIncendo restaurant is now closed up and workers are inside doing something to the space. The little Mexican grill that was at the north east corner of the Equitable is gone, meaning all that's left of it is the concrete slab foundation. Workers were busy gutting the floors above the H&V restaurant, whose menu was too expensive for me, and a new advertising mural is being painted on the side of the building. I had a great $2.25 hot dog at Ronnie's Donuts in the Pantages building. The service from the woman behind the counter was great. We got talking and she's worried because all the condo construction is hurting business. I told her that the people who'll be living in the condos gotta eat somewhere which she found a lot funnier than I thought it was.

The bus came and headed west on Hollywood Blvd., past the new Virgin Store which I passed earlier in the day when Mayor Johnny Grant was out getting ready to unveil Rocky Horror Picture Show producer Lou Adler's star on the Walk of Fame. Unfortunately because of the traffic, I didn't have time to stop or I'd miss my first interview, but it was great seeing his honor after all his help.