Here's a few minutes of driving down Sunset Boulevard in 1967 Hollywood. Let's watch it together and then I'll point out a few things I recognize…
Twelve seconds in, we're driving past the Body Shop, a strip joint that's darn near the only thing in this brief video that's still there. I've never set foot inside the place (honest!) but from what I hear, some of the same girls are still working its stage.
44 seconds in, there's the statue of Rocky and Bullwinkle that was unveiled there in 1961. Jay Ward, producer of the Moose and Squirrel's adventures, had a bunch of small offices in this block, some behind others, so you're kind of getting a peek at the Jay Ward Studios. If you enlarge the video and look to the right of the statue, you'll see the sign that tells you that.
At 53 seconds in, there's a restaurant called the Plush Pup. In 1971, it was replaced by the Dudley Do-Right Emporium, a store Jay opened to sell merchandise of his characters. It was shut down in July of 2004 and there's now a taco restaurant there.
Then we come upon Lytton Savings, a now-defunct financial institution which was famous (at least in '67) for exhibits. They had a kind of art gallery on the premises that housed some tourist-luring shows and there was also a spot you'll see to the left of it where they sometimes had a large tent with something interesting.
Okay, I'm going to tell a story here. In 1962 when I was ten, Lytton Savings housed an exhibition about animation and I got my parents to take me to it. There were artifacts and cels from Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Walter Lantz and a disproportionate amount of material from Jay Ward. It was almost half Ward stuff which didn't bother me but it was puzzling. That was before I learned that Mr. Ward's company was about 100 yards away.
Jay Ward often had his crew produce promotional items — posters and booklets and such — that he'd send around Hollywood to members of the press and other opinion makers. A popular one had been a little book of song parodies called Sing Along With Bullwinkle, mostly produced by George Atkins and Allan Burns. So popular was it that it spawned a sequel — Son of Sing Along with Bullwinkle — and the Lytton Savings exhibit had the pages of a copy displayed on one wall.
My parents and I found it hilarious and my mother asked one of the curator-type employees there where one could purchase a copy of the book. A nice lady told her, "I don't think they sell them but the studio is half a block from here. You might pop in and ask if they have an extra copy lying around." We did and they did.
I don't think I can describe how excited it was for me that day to walk with my parents in the front door of an actual cartoon studio…one that made some of my favorite shows. We only saw the lobby but there was neat Bullwinkle art all over it and I was quite thrilled. It was one of the most memorable moments of my childhood and, yes, I still have the copy of Son of Sing Along with Bullwinkle that they gave us that day.
Moving on…
After Lytton Savings, we come to the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights Boulevard. At about 1:30, we see a lady in a red-and-white dress standing there. For a brief time (like, two weeks) in '69, there was a bit of a local fuss about another lady who hung out (and I mean hung out) approximately where that lady is standing in the video. The woman in 1969 was a hooker…one of several that could be found at that intersection until the local police chased them to some other agency's jurisdiction.
The particularly notable courtesan was a tall, stunning blonde woman who wore a long coat with nothing underneath. As cars drove east on Sunset, she was known to flash their drivers, resulting in a number of collisions. She also created major congestion as some cars circled around the block repeatedly in order to pass her, hoping for an encore performance. Some motorists stopped to negotiate for her services, thereby proving the value of advertising. Others stopped to tip.
But the real mess came because every reporter and TV news crew came out there…and they succeeded where the police failed. The cops couldn't chase her off but the power of the press did. I'm surprised the strip club two blocks west didn't try the same stunt.
After that, the video repeats but isn't that kind of an interesting three block stretch?