Summer Sketching on Sunset Blvd.

...from Silver Lake to Hollywood...

Sitting in the shade of a flowery alcove outside The Casbah Cafe at Sunset Junction...with a view of the Boulevard and the hills above the Silver Lake neighborhood...

Traveling west on Sunset to East Hollywood, I returned to a favorite place to sketch...Barnsdall Park with its panoramic views in all directions of the city, and the Griffith Observatory...

...and some sketching in Hollywood...at Sunset and Vine--almost hidden from the street by the giant ficus is a bell signpost for El Camino Real.  The old "royal road" runs most of the length of California, and apparently this section of Sunset was part of it--the bell markers are part of the history of California which I love seeing!

... and just down the street is a modern piece of history, and a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural monument...the Cinerama Dome...

Hollywood

It was inevitable.  As I've made my way sketching down Sunset Blvd., I just needed to make a short detour to sketch the Hollywood that millions of tourists come to see, so how could I resist?

 I've always loved the stars on the Walk of Fame that lines Hollywood Blvd. for several blocks, and Vine as well.  Near the fabled corner of Hollywood and Vine, life goes on as usual while tourists look for their favorite stars' stars...and a hopeful future star checks his messages...

 At Sunset and Vine, looking up the street towards Hollywood Blvd.,
the mix of old and new Hollywood...

 The biggest draw for tourists in Hollywood is still
Grauman's Chinese Theater...where costumed characters mix with visitors and some who look a bit lost...The red carpet above was left over from a Cirque du Soleil street performance the night before.















On Sunset, the Cinerama Dome sits across the street from the Los Angeles Film School, with Hollywood hopefuls coming and going...

 A Hollywood neighborhood cafe...

At Hollywood Blvd & Highland Shopping Center elephant towers rise up next to a massive gateway inspired by D. W. Griffith's 1916 silent film, Intolerance. As it turns out, the real location of the Intolerance Babylon set is where the Vista Theater now stands (show previously here)...
Vista Theater