Historic Hollywood

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Above: Originally opened as Sardi’s
Restaurant in 1932, the exterior,
interior, and furnishings were designed
by famed architect Rudolph Schindler.
In the 1940s it housed a national
radio show, Breakfast at Sardi’s,
though at no time did the restaurant
have any connection to the famed New
York eatery of the same name. The site
of various retail businesses from the
1950s on, the building had slumped
along with Hollywood in the 1970s. By
then it had become the Cave Theater,
a strip joint and x-rated book store,
one of several that had come into
Hollywood at that time.
place by the end of the 1970s with new
development and the luring of new businesses to
Hollywood proper. By 1977 the Pantages
Theater became a live theatre venue, revitalizing
the old theater while attracting tourists
to the east end of Hollywood Boulevard.
In 1979 the Hollywood Police force began
a crackdown on prostitution and street
people, reducing much of the crime at the
same time. By 1978 the Hollywood Sign
was replicated with donations from some of
Hollywood’s more prominent celebrities. By
the end of the 1970s Hollywood was
again going through many changes to
keep some sort of redevelopment ongoing. There
was great optimism with the coming
of the 1980s for a rebirth of the glamour of
old Hollywood.
Right: Hollywood High School has been
on this original site since 1904, and is
one of the oldest high schools in Los
Angeles. After the 1933 Long Beach
Earthquake, the entire school was
razed and rebuilt as a new Streamline
Moderne style school in 1935. It has
become a Hollywood landmark with
such alumni as Jason Robards, Jr.,
Alexis Smith, Ricky and David Nelson,
Carol Burnett, Stephanie Powers,
James Garner, Lana Turner, and John
Ritter. By the 1970s over fifty
languages were being spoken by
students at the school as a large
immigrant population moved into
Hollywood. Today it is also a magnet
school for the performing arts.
36 ✦ HISTORIC HOLLYWOOD