Southern California Photography by Alan Pavlik, editor and publisher of Just Above Sunset
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West of Hollywood
Photos and text, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2006 - Alan M. Pavlik

If you use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me

These were shot with a Nikon D70 - using lens (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto, or after 5 June 2006, (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor, 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. They were modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0

The original large-format raw files are available upon request.

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Visitors from February 28, 2006, 10:00 am Pacific Time to date -


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Friday, 24 March 2006
The Capitol Records Building
Topic: Historic Hollywood
The Capitol Records Building

The Capitol Records Building, Vine and Yucca, Hollywood CaliforniaComing in this Sunday's Just Above Sunset, photos and discussion of the Capitol Records Building, a local landmark - thirteen stories, designed by Welton Becket, the world's first circular office building, still home to a few recording studios. The tall spike on top makes it look like a stack of vinyl 45's on a turntable. Maybe that was the idea, maybe not. It was built in 1956 just north of the intersection of Hollywood and Vine - the consolidated West Coast operations of Capitol Records. The blinking light on the very top spells out the word "Hollywood" in Morse code. The Beatles recorded some stuff here, but really it's Frank Sinatra's place. The basement studio is where he recorded all those albums with Nelson Riddle.

EMI owns it now. Capitol Records is no more. EMI has about three hundred people in there, but it's dead. They want to sell the builidng so some developer can turn it into condos. The mayor of Los Angeles is making a fuss - keep it a working studio and industry place - Hollywood should be more than a theme park with expensive housing. EMI is not impressed. They're losing money.

This is how it looked, Thursday, March 23, 2006, just after noon.

A minor note - a major studio was across the street doing a shoot. Many trailers for the stars, and trucks full of fancy equipment. And the catering services had their rigs there, and they were cooking up some stuff that smelled wonderful, Thai barbeque and all that. Chatted with the security folks. No free lunch. Drat.


The Sinatra Society of America had this in a nearby alley, Frank Sinatra keeping a perpetual eye on the Capitol Records Building.

Frank Sinatra mural, Hollywood and Vine (alley behind the boulevard), Los Angeles, California























The Capitol Records Building, Vine and Yucca, Hollywood California


Posted by Alan at 10:10 PM PST | Post Comment | Permalink
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Updated: Friday, 24 March 2006 10:14 PM PST
Thursday, 23 March 2006
Raymond Chandler Square
Topic: Historic Hollywood
Raymond Chandler Square

Raymond Chandler Square - Hollywood Boulevard at Cahuenga Boulevard, Los Angeles, CaliforniaAs mentioned in passing elsewhere, Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) was the creator of the cynical and wry private investigator Phillip Marlow, with his office high over Hollywood Boulevard and all that. His first Marlow novel was The Big Sleep (1939), but most folks remember the Howard Hawks movie (1946) with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, with its screenplay by Chandler and William Faulkner, and scenes at a gambling joint "up in Laurel Canyon."

Laurel Canyon is the view from the living room here, and down the street we have Raymond Chandler Square - Hollywood at Cahuenga - with the "Cahuenga Building" where Marlow had his office (actually the Pacific Security Bank building).

This is it, Thursday, March 23, 2006. The sign telling you where you are was gone for months, but it's back, something to do with the LAPD setting up video cameras to keep an eye on the street.

The shot was taken standing on the "Walk of Fame" with its stars in the sidewalk, and specifically the Claude Rains star. You remember him as the cynical French fellow in Casablanca, where Bogart was cynical in a different way.



The "Cahuenga Building" where Marlow had his office (actually the Pacific Security Bank building) these days.

The 'Cahuenga Building' where Phillip Marlow had his office (actually the Pacific Security Bank building) - Hollywood Boulevard at Cahuenga Boulevard, Los Angeles, California







































The 'Cahuenga Building' where Phillip Marlow had his office (actually the Pacific Security Bank building) - Hollywood Boulevard at Cahuenga Boulevard, Los Angeles, California























The scene on Hollywood Boulevard, these days, just to the right of the front door of the "Cahuenga Building" where Phillip Marlow had his office.

The scene on Hollywood Boulevard, a few feet west of Cahuenga Boulevard























The spot to take pictures.

Claude Rains' star on Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard at Cahuenga Boulevard, Los Angeles, California


Posted by Alan at 6:41 PM PST | Post Comment | Permalink
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Updated: Thursday, 23 March 2006 6:52 PM PST
Wednesday, 22 March 2006
Big Chair: The Pacific Design Center
Topic: Color Studies
Big Chair: The Pacific Design Center

Yesterday's photos of the Pacific Design Center down on Melrose Avenue may have left the wrong impression. Basically the place is filled with furniture stores - custom, exclusive stores with one-of-a-kind items, many of which will sent you back tens of thousands of dollars a pop - but furniture stores nonetheless. That's why they have this big chair out front.

The Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California, architect Cesar Pelli





































But it's just California, palm trees and all.

The Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California, architect Cesar Pelli





































And it is very blue.

The Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California, architect Cesar Pelli


Posted by Alan at 3:12 PM PST | Post Comment | Permalink
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Updated: Wednesday, 22 March 2006 3:18 PM PST
Tuesday, 21 March 2006
Color Studies: The Pacific Design Center
Topic: Color Studies
Color Studies: The Pacific Design Center

From Frommers -
The bold architecture and overwhelming scale of the Pacific Design Center, designed by Argentinean architect Cesar Pelli, aroused controversy when it was erected in 1975. Sheathed in gently curving cobalt-blue glass, the seven-story building houses more than 750,000 square feet of wholesale interior-design showrooms and is known to locals as "the Blue Whale." When the property for the design center was acquired in the 1970s, almost all of the small businesses that lined this stretch of Melrose Avenue were demolished. Only Hugo's Plating, which still stands in front of the center, successfully resisted the wrecking ball. In 1988, a second boxlike structure, dressed in equally dramatic Kelly green, was added to the design center and surrounded by a protected outdoor plaza.
A page at Pacific Design Center website mentions the pedestrian bridge, design by Gruen Associates - opened in March 1991 to connect the sixth floors of each center. The site plan calls for a third phase, Center Red, consisting of 400,000 square-feet, but there's no construction date yet.

The blue and green buildings are at 8687 Melrose Avenue, down in West Hollywood. A short drive for some color studies. All photos Tuesday, March 21, 2006, late afternoon.

The Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California, architect Cesar Pelli







































The Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California, architect Cesar Pelli
















The Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California, architect Cesar Pelli
























The Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California, architect Cesar Pelli



























The Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, California, architect Cesar Pelli



Posted by Alan at 6:00 PM PST | Post Comment | Permalink
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Updated: Tuesday, 21 March 2006 6:08 PM PST
Monday, 20 March 2006
They call it stormy Monday...
Topic: Light and Shadow
They call it stormy Monday...

Monday, March 20, 2006, late afternoon, looking west down Sunset Boulevard at the base of the Hollywood Hills at Laurel Canyon. No pretty sunset tonight. This is rolling in fast off the Pacific, where Sunset Boulevard ends in Malibu at Pacific Coast Highway. Rain tonight. A Raymond Chandler evening ahead.

Storm brewing over Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood







































Storm brewing over Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood


Posted by Alan at 5:38 PM PST | Post Comment | Permalink
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