We Had Faces!

A welcoming bunch of mugs, ain't they? Most of these have gone unnoticed for decades, mainly because they are very hard to see from the street. I've tried to see them, and never got a good look until I got a digital camera. What is interesting to me, is that almost all buildings featuring faces in sculpture or relief, are festooned with blood sucking demons, serpents, and humans in agony, with Ram Horned Baphomet lording over the front door. The Chinese, El Capitan, Egyptian, and Warner Theatres ALL have Baphomet and a Serpent over the entrance...but the Evilest of all, the Damien of Hollywood Theatres is the Hollywood Palace. It gives me the willies in the first place because I passed every day for 9 years before I noticed ANY faces in the plaster. Then one day it suddenly came alive like that thing in Pacino's Penthouse in "Devil's Advocate" It's the "Where's Waldo" of Occult Architecture. While I hardly believe Sid Grauman was attending Black Mass between poker with Zukor, and driving home to the hotel room he shared with his mommy, I certainly do know that it would have to be an impossible coincidence to have all the Boulevard theatres have the exact same symbols and themes hidden in them, randomly, for no reason. Someone along the way, followed Mephistopheles' column. I'm guessing Architect G. Albert Lansburgh might have something to do with it. He was from San Francisco and (...home to The Bohemian Club, The Church Of Satan, and all SORTS of Occult Fun...) and swirling in society circles at a time when Hell was Hot Hot Hot....He would have had the power to put these elements in his buildings, and also the influence on architects from other firms to do the same. I can imagine his office similar to the last scene of Rosemary's Baby. I mean look at that mustache? How could this guy possibly be wholesome with the corners so twisted and waxed? A topic I shall pursue at a later date...Until then, enjoy the pictures I took, and look UP at the buildings you pass instead of DOWN at the sidewalk...I promise you will find something more interesting than a hunk of pink terrazo that someone bought for themselves like a vanity plate from the DMV...)

The El Capitan Theatre

The Equitable Building, Hollywood And Vine

Hollywood Bowl Entrance

The Hollywood Pantages

El Capitan Theatre

Hollywood Pantages Theatre

Grauman's Egyptian Theatre

El Capitan Theatre

Louis B. Mayer Building

El Capitan Theatre

The Rape Of Europa, Sunset and Vine

Warner Pacific Theatre

El Capitan Theatre

Hollywood Palace

The Baine Building

Hollywood Palace

Warner Pacific Theatre

Louis B. Mayer Building

The Hollywood Palace (Orig. Playhouse)