The box office, popcorn stand, and projectors have departed the historic Warner Brothers Theatre, which opened in 1928. Its marquee now advertises worship instead of pleasures. I was drawn to the scene by the primary colors of blue, red, and yellow, and the play of mid-day light on the scene. Shooting from across the street, I waited for these three pedestrians to pass through my frame, all of them dressed in various shades of blue. They provide scale to the image and work perfectly with the color scheme here. These pedestrians walk on Hollywood Boulevard, home of the “Walk of Fame” – 2,500 red and gold stars saluting many of the same people whose images once flickered on this screen. (One of the stars embedded in the sidewalk under this marquee honors the actress Carol Burnett, who asked that it be placed in front of this very theatre. She had worked as an usher there in the 50s, and had been summarily fired by the theatre manager. Revenge is sweet!)
In the 60s, the theatre became known as the Hollywood Pacific Theatre, and it is now the Ecclesia Hollywood Church, open only Sundays. As I made this image, the building was shuttered, along with its neighbor, a souvenir shop, “welcoming us to Hollywood.” On its blue shutter is an image of a movie star, one of many such images displayed on similar shutters along Hollywood Boulevard. In this street image, I express how entertainment, religion, and the nature of economics blend to form the nature of present-day Hollywood.