Central Casting and RKO

The former Central Casting/Hayes Office building

SW corner of Hollywood and Western, Hollywood
AAA Map: Central and Western Area, Metropolitan LA
Map Reference: B 21
Freeway Exit: Hollywood Freeway, Sunset Blvd. Exit.

Old Central Casting bldg.

This building was the headquarters of one of the most infamous censorship organizations ever: the Hayes Office. Although movies thrived even after the enforcement of the Production Code, many cartoon series, most notably the Fleischer Betty Boop cartoons, were never the same once the code began to be enforced in earnest in 1933.

This was also the home of Central Casting, the only Hayes-approved movie casting company. All the references to Central Casting in old movies refer to this organization.

The building is now abandoned, in a very disheveled state, and has been "squatted" off and on by local homeless kids. But there is a move afoot to preserve this building because of its place in motion picture history.

It is kind of ironic, considering everything, but if you look really close at the building you can see bas reliefs of what an artist thought the movie industry would look like if it had existed in Ancient Greece or Rome: a naked cameraman shooting naked actors and actresses. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good enough shot of the building details...you're just going to have to check them out for yourself.

According to some film historians, Walt Disney and Ubbe Iwerks shot the live-action portions of the "Alice" comedies on a vacant lot at one of the corners of this intersection.

Other points of interest in the area: Greek Theatre, Griffith Observatory, American Film Institute.

Admission: Free. You don't want to try to go inside, though.

The former RKO globe

NE corner of Melrose and Gower, Hollywood
AAA Map: Central and Western Area, Metropolitan LA
Map Reference: D 20
Freeway Exit: Hollywood Freeway, Sunset Blvd. Exit.

RKO Globe.

In another era, this large polychrome sculpture of a globe was surmounted by a neon-lit radio antenna. Today, it's topped with a rotating blade device meant to keep pigeons from landing on it. In any event, the soundstages the globe is attached to were once part of RKO Pictures, then Desilu TV. Trekkies take note: the original Star Trek series was filmed here.

Now the soundstage is owned by Paramount Pictures, and an office building named for the Fleischer Bros. is just behind the massive building. Unfortunately there are no tours of Paramount, because it is perhaps the prettiest of all the remaining movie studios. But once in a while the public is invited on the lot...annually there is a charity Christmas gift fair, and there have been other events there as well. Check the LA Times or the LA Daily News entertainment sections for more information.

If you didn't stop for lunch at the Snow White Cafe, Astro Burger, which is directly across the street, is not bad for that sort of thing. Lucy's El Adobe, the famous California-Mexican restaurant where Linda Ronstadt and former California Governor Jerry Brown used to hang out when he was down from Sacramento is not too far away as well.

Other points of interest in the area: Melrose Avenue, CBS Television City, Farmer's Market, Museums in the "Miracle Mile" District. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum, Petersen Automotive Museum, Museum of Miniatures)

Admission: Free.

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