Most Angelenos avoid Hollywood Blvd. It used to be a run down slum with a lot of tile stars embedded in the sidewalks. Most of the real film industry moved out to the San Fernando Valley decades ago. There are still a couple of studios (Paramount and Raleigh) and post-production houses around in industrial-looking buildings. But the absence of the actual world of movie-making in this area hasn’t affected the enthusiasm of the Hollywood Merchants Association. In the last few years Hollywood Blvd. has spiffied itself up and turned into a tourist trap with two underground Metro Gold Line Stations bracketing it.
Even the old office buildings that had been empty for decades are now being converted into apartment and condos.
Below ground the station at Hollywood and Vine definitely celebrates the film industry. Above ground capitalism thrives with tour buses and costumed characters. The characters, BTW, are all entrepreneurial–individuals who simply decided to earn their living wearing costumes and being photographed with tourists. The goal, of course, of all this activity is to encourage tourists to spend money at the shops that line the boulevard.
Anyway…here are some photos of Hollywood aboveground and below at the Red Line station at Hollywood and Vine.
Underground columns become “palm trees” at the Hollywood and Vine Metro station.
This tile in the Red Line station tells the truth: ‘Not in Kansas Anymore’.
