#check out the movie palaces that are still around (ie the Chinese the Egyptian the El Capitan and the Cinerama Dome if that ever reopens)

[dweemeister]

May 1, 2021

By Nita Lelyveld

(Los Angeles Times) -- I dream of the day when the Hollywood the whole world associates with movie magic is brought back to life on the blocks tourists always come to see.

I dream of tourists leaving Hollywood Boulevard not underwhelmed and disappointed but thrilled by the richness of all they’ve learned there about the origins and history of the movies.

In this dream of mine, I see an especially bright future for a small alley just south of the boulevard, which at this moment could hardly be more obscure.

Because I think so many visitors to Hollywood would love to know about this unnamed space — where, in the early, exhilarating, madcap days of moviemaking, three of the greatest Hollywood stars of all time shot parts of three of their greatest films.

Here in this alley, which runs east to west from Cosmo Street to Cahuenga Boulevard, Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp first found an abandoned baby in “The Kid” (1921).

In this alley, Harold Lloyd headed to work through the employees’ back entrance of De Vore Department Store in “Safety Last!” (1923), best known for the iconic scene in which he hangs from the hands of the department store’s clock face high above a busy city street (filmed downtown).

Down this alley, Buster Keaton, chased by a pack of policemen, makes his thrilling escape by grabbing one-handed onto a moving car in “Cops” (1922).