CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD

CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD

Going to a place conjures up so much more in the minds eye than reading a book, don’t get me wrong reading is fabulous and fuels the imagination and drive, hence my erstwhile attempts to arm you with information in the literary form. 

After all wasn’t, I just looking for a book to read at one point!!

Not having to travel far is a bonus, yet making sure to plan your attack on the Los Angeles freeways is critical, if you don’t catch the right wave so to speak in our So Cal vernacular, you can end up feeling like Gilligan after 5 seasons, wasn’t it just a three hour tour…?

I love the mystique of what it must have been like in Hollywood in the early 1900’s as the East coast visionaries drifted West across land, tempted by the sweet smell of the orange groves and the land of Sunshine. We had it all here, Sun, Seaside, labor, cheap land  and  we had started something here the folks on the East were curious about, moving pictures… in the not too distant future sound would begrudgingly introduce itself through the silent screen stars of the day.

I mean who can blame Greta Garbo as she utters “Gimme a whiskey, ginger ale on the side and don’t be stingy baby” from the instantly forgettable 1929 MGM offering “Anna Christie”.

I traveled the degenerating road north in search of this land locked gem, and as my destination became closer the butterflies started to tumble as I saw road signs stating those famous names, I still hear Ray Davis singing about all the stars he’s seen as he walks down “Hollywood Boulevard” then “Melrose Place” yes that one  THE “ Melrose Place” and then, there it was, the biggie, El Jeffe, the name synonymous with Hollywood itself  “Sunset Boulevard” it’s still a pinch me kind of feeling, you know, that  do I really live here someone’s gonna tell me to go home we’ve got the wrong guy scenario, that you wake up in a cold sweat from, that at any point I can wander these Southern Californian famous, infamous and pop culture laden vignettes … mind blown.

Yet here I am, Sunset Boulevard, today not the glitzy ideal you have in your mind, more the, step over the downtrodden, kick the needles into the gutter and dodge the oncoming burden of the pan handling, but its still Hollywood Boulevard Baby.

It’s right there, you can still reach out and touch or catch that wonderful glimpse in Modern day Hollywood of those days of yore, those halcyon days, not as much as you used to mind you, and as time and tide wait for no one this gem I am crossing the street towards, needs you to visit also, trips to fuel the memory banks and reincarnation of life gone before, must be done soon, as this is slated for re-gentrification, a disappearing act, and will be lost to the blogs of Boomers imaginations once more.

Russell Crow stepped right across this very spot as he headed to the “Hush Hush” offices of Danny DeVito’s character in LA Confidential, are we truly at the Crossroads of the World?

Born in 1879 Charles H Crawford started his life out running Saloons and dance halls in Seattle. His desire to gain riches brought him to Southern California where he grew his seedy empire of bars, bordellos and casino’s, turning him into a small time crime syndicate of his own, flashy clothes, ritzy cars and flamboyant personality its rumored that he pretty much ran Los Angeles from behind the Mayor of the town during 1920’s. This is how Mafia kingpins are grown, not made up in screenplays, but real life, I tell you, one can’t make this stuff up!

Aren’t these the characters we wish we could meet as we gaze back on how Hollywood was carved out, illustrious, suspicious, daring…but in May 1931 at the age of 52 Crawford and his partner Herbert Spencer were shot and killed in broad daylight at Crawford’s private office at 6655 Sunset Boulevard.

For those with an eye for curiosity or playing along at home it plays out like any Sam Sneed novel and as yet still unsolved and sits as an open case file with the LAPD. I love that my mind plays the sound from Law and Order, it adds to the ambiance !

Crawford left behind a wife Ella, probably no innocent bystander in all her husband’s nefarious goings on herself, decided that she would build, on the site of her husband’s death, a cosmopolitan outdoor market.

She enlisted the help of renowned designer of the time Robert.V. Derrah, known notably for his design of the local Coca Cola building …and here’s that time and tide again, the building is no longer a manufacturing plant and has changed to become the headquarters of their Pacific Coast Business. These buildings in LA are great architectural pieces and though this is not a part of the Hollywood land you will come to love as you start your explorations, it is saved as a Los Angeles Historical Cultural Monument and resisted in 1975 as building 138 on its list, known locally as “The Coke Building” in the style of “Streamline Moderne” ….. ( another side bar trip for those following along, to 1200 – 1334 South Central Avenue in downtown Los Angeles)

 Getting back to Ella, she must have had a certain flair herself as she watched Derrah design a steamboat style structure down the center of a block of Hollywood and then surround it with buildings from lands afar, I mean this is Hollywood, can you picture the likes of Cesar Romero and Boris Karloff who were at the grand opening in 1936 wandering the cobblestone roads, dressed in their “Satin and Tat” with prime Avocado, Peach, Fig and Pepper trees, lining the walkways, wishing wells, brick walls and statues, mingled with the nine vignettes of Architecture from across the globe, a Crossroads of the World if you will...

 It’s all still here, I pinch myself, I know the history I’ve done my due diligence and now I’m walking among this magnificent beast, yet there is a strangely eerie feeling that spills over me as I amble, I can’t put my finger on it, I look around and I can see where Robert Redford sat as he offered Demi Moore his “Indecent Proposal”, now starkly empty except for the cracked faded red vinyl bench seating. The epiphany, that’s it, its deserted, I’m alone.

Calling it the “Crossroads of the World” The space resides at 6671 Sunset Boulevard, it started life simply ( if ever there was anything done simply by Ella I am yet to find it) as a pedestrian shopping center, but sadly was not a success and closed in 1956.

Now was that in itself a bad thing, I don’t know, but I love how you can look back on the history of things and find the story in the history… feel like I may have used the word History one too many times there!! But that’s where it begins again and through the 1940’s and 1950’s the space turned into offices and was home to the Screen Actors Guild.

Again destined to disappear as the 60’s drew to a close and thinking the fancy days of Hollywood had set sail into the sunset, it was a guy by the name of Morton La Kretz who, in May 1977 saved it from the wrecking ball and he had a similar vision, to turn it back into its glory days. Scraping away the fashion senses of decades gone by, he spent the next several years restoring the ennead of European vignettes to what I am standing in today.

Firstly the Ocean liner center piece in the Streamline Modern facing straight away to Sunset Boulevard, curved corners, porthole windows and ships railings. Secondly, the Spanish building to the east of the ship and also facing Sunset with its red tiles and arched roof, shutters now flapping in disrepair and balconies staring out looking for a glimpse of times gone by. Thirdly, the Mediterranean Californian set up with hand painted tiles. Fourthly on the west of the ship the Italian influenced building with Venetian Arches and columns. Fifthly still connected is the French style building with stained glass windows and fleur-de-lis still visible a top the chimney.

The Sixth set up is a Moorish building in the center of Crossroads boasting Arabic pointed windows and Arabic lettering still visible. For those with memories of Quark and Strangeness you'll possibly remember the vinyl release of Alice Coopers Album Muscle Of Love...

Seventh is the set of Early American Cape Cod buildings with their high pitched shingled roofs and chimneys. Eighth (phew are you still with me) is the European Village half timbered with dormer windows, staircases and turret towers, topped off nicely in Ninth is the fully working lighthouse facing Selma Ave.

Its all still here, I do seam to have forgotten about reading a book, I’m lost in transition as this world takes me back and forth through time, and if that wasn’t enough here’s the “Hidden Hollywood” gem that few know. If you look carefully, just like looking for the Hidden Mickeys at Disneyland, every door in Crossroads is different, by design, shape, style and any other adjective you can throw their way, check out the Spider Web…

Ella’s dream came true through Morgan as he garnered exactly what you want from Hollywood the center of the entertainment industry, Jackson Browne, America, Poco and Crosby Stills and Nash had offices here. Geffen Films was headquartered here with Tim Burton using Crossroads as his offices. Also, home to Ruby Records, Dolby Sound American Film Magazine and many casting agencies, of whom a few still reside today… I’m ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille.

Inevitably this weird place became the place to shoot your Movie, (LA Confidential, Indecent Proposal, Ford Fairlane, even Elizabeth Taylor shot Malice In Wonderland here in 1984) or a Commercial  (McDonalds in 1979 through to Mercedes Benz in 1991) or Album covers as noted, or even perform live on the roof like Big Audio Dynamite did in 1991.

Trudge the alley ways and you will see the ghosts of TV series long gone by, i'm pretty sure Remington Steel was here, or was that Monk touching every uniform fence pole….

The past is preserved in our minds eye, it’s a wonderful thing, no one to bother me as I drift back to consciousness, and perhaps symbolically as this adventure fades the globe 60 ft. above Sunset Boulevard rotates and begins to flicker….

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Photos and words Benny Santini Productions