The Capitol Records Tower Under Construction

This image was taken after the ground level that contains the lobby and the recording studios was finished, but the top level and spire are still under construction and the protective louvres have yet to be installed.

The large gray wall was painted white with first an oval Capitol logo, and then the "bulls-eye" Capitol logo, in the upper left corner, both of which lit up at night. In 1990, the 26'x88' mural "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972" by Richard Wyatt was unveiled with portraits of Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Parker, Tito Puente, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Shelly Manne, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, and Duke Ellington. The acrylic on concrete mural is currently in a very faded and peeling state.

Tapping on the image goes to a large (660k) .jpg that shows a lot more detail about the building and the surrounding neighborhood including the Hollywood Tower Hotel, Nick's Place Burgers, and the parking lot for Dupars, Tips, Ontra and Hody's restaurants The parking lot is still there.

The Hollywood Tower Hotel is still there in all it's glory.

Dupar's is now The Forbidden City night club and restaurant.

Nick's shack and the "Burger" sign are still there but it looks like it's been turned into storage space for The Forbidden City. Nick's was a great place to get an inexpensive burger during lunch time if you didn't get eat at Rosa's shop on the 2nd floor of the Tower.

Tips Steak House, after being the location of the Collector's Bookstore until the Equitable Building was retro-fitted in 2000, was the back room of the Hollywood and Vine restaurant, but is currently the Vine Street Lounge. The Ontra Cafeteria was demolished after the 1994 earthquake and is now a parking lot next to the Palace Theatre.

One part of Hody's is now a Blood Spot tattoo and piercing parlor and the rest is currently the Basque night club. For a great history of this building, with photos, go to this article on LottaLivin.com.

Also visible in this image is a sign on the side of the Gogerty Building for the Westlake College of Music which was converted to additional office space for Capitol Records and EMI in 2002.

The photo also shows the phone number to call for renting office space in the Tower as well as construction signs showing credits for Welton Becket & Associates and C.L. Peck construction. I wonder if the realtor will use that phone number if the builing gets sold to the condo developer who put in an offer to EMI for the Tower?