There is a building that I have been photographing from my deck, for a very long time.....It was known as The Sunset Vine Tower when it was built in 1963, as a twenty story office building. In 2001 there was a terrible electrical fire that literally closed the building down and it has been empty ever since. In the last two years it has changed "looks" many many times.....By way of placement, the building is at the South East Corner of Sunset Blvd, and Vine Street.......And I am going to show you a series of pictures of the different incarnations of this building.....
There was a rather nice restaurant on the top floor, back in the day, called Simply Blues....There you could hear pretty good music and have some fairly good food, too. I remember going there sometime in the late 60's early 70's after seeing the fabulous show "Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well" at the then Huntington Hartford Theatre, up the street on Vine...(Now called the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.....) Later, that same restaurant/bar/jazz place was known as 360, because of the fantastic views from all sides, encompassing 360 degrees. (Incidentally, this building was featured in the film "Earthquake" back in 1974....)
Okay. So in 2003 the building was bought by a Real Estate Group called CIM. It took a long time for everything to go through and finally, it was announced that the building would be completely renovated and turned into Condominiums....It seemed like nothing happened for the longest time.....Then, there was another fire in the building in 2005.....
I did not take this picture...I found it on line...And you can see that back in 2005 there was some advertising on the side of this building for the film, "Mr & Mrs. Smith" (the 'Brangelina' film....).But, in all honesty, I do not recall ever seeing anything on the two sides of the building visible to me...till 2006.....Maybe it was there, but not in my view.....This building seems to have a lot of bad luck connected to it....I understand that someone jumped off the building sometime before that terrible 2001 fire that closed the building.....And just an aside: It was one of the first buildings built after Los Angeles changed it's building restrictions, allowing new buildings to be taller than 14 story's.
In March of 2006, I noticed the first advertising showing up in my view....! In this picture it was only on the one side, facing West.....
A closer look above at that advertising panel....covering 17 or 18 floors of this building.....An eyesore? I think so. As I recall....the Ipod Ads on the side of the old Bekins Storage Building which I have posted were the first ads that I became aware of....Visual Pollution was what I called them back then, and I still call this kind of advertising that two and a half years later.....
In May of 2006, I noticed this strange bizarre covering that began to go up on The Sunset Vine Tower. In researching a little about the history here, it turns out that there was asbestos in the building that needed to be removed. They were forced to put this plastic sleeve covering the entire building so that the asbestos would not escape and the surrounding neighborhoods---me included---would not be at risk.
Here above is the building, completely "wrapped" and you can see that on the North side they wasted no time in selling the Ad space. This picture was taken in July of 2006. And the one below, a few days later.....
Then, a few months later, the Ads were changed.....
There is money to be made by the owners of this building....I read somewhere where a Rep for this Real Estate Company said, 'Oh I wouldn't have any advertising on the building if it hadn't needed to be wrapped because of the asbestos....'. Oh yeah? Well, what was that "Mr. & Mr. Smith" stuff all about then?? Okay. So this one was on here for a while....and then....
As you can see....this stuff was being torn off....I'm not sure how that was done or if there were other factors involved, but.....
this was still coming off--or being removed, two months later....And as you can see, all the exterior things that had been on the building in those first three pictures, are now gone....
And this picture above was taken the same day at the brink of dusk....And the "plastic wrap" is almost all gone....it really looks a mess, doesn't it? It is now February, 2007.....
And above, on March 22, 2007....a neat and clean skeleton of a building appears.....Every time I photographed this building, I wondered what the hell they were doing and why it was taking so long to do whatever it was they were doing.....? In early April of 2007, something else seemed to be happening, once again, in terms of "wrapping"....
As you can see, one side---the North side had this word running down the building...'TRANSFORMERS'.....and that blue stuff facing West...well, I didn't know what it was.....
The picture above was only twenty minutes later...but it looked like the wind was playing havoc with that blue 'wrap' on the lower left so you could barely see it......Some weeks past and the next time I photographed the building, this is what I saw.....
This was the most complex "painting" of any of the Ads that I have seen on that building.....it actually was quite amazing in it's complexity.....I have not seen the movie "Transformers" and I would venture to say the chances of my ever seeing it are none to none.....So I am happy I got to see this very expensive advertising for it.....But, I must say there is something quite imposing and scary about this Ad......(Part 2 of this story, next time.....)
More To Come.......
Links to this post:
- had this to say:
What a fascinating history of one building. Seeing it's many incantations through your pictures is kind of like watching one of those films which show a long period of time passing quickly! A lot has certainly happenend to it. I wonder when they will finish doing whatever they are doing? It does seem that they are contnet to use it as a huge advertising board! Speaking of which they really are visiual pollution as they dominate the view.
Thanks for your lovely comment about your photobook :) I am so happy that it still brings joy to you and flattered that people like it so much. I am up to my ears still with work and study but I will email you soon. I haven't forgotten that you wanted more! I never thought it would be such a big hit! :)- Friday, March 28, 2008 2:42:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
doesn't it just make you wonder how anything ever got sold before all the commercialism ?!! (hard to believe that once upon a time there was "virtually" no "commercials" on our computers!
No one can leave the tiniest (nor the largest bldg) space unused! It's sickening.- Friday, March 28, 2008 3:33:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
wow! i never really thought about all the ads that go on buildings like that. i wonder what will happen to it now?
you cracked me up with the transformers! none to none chances are indeed pretty slim!
have a great day naomi! thanks for bringing a little of your flair into mine :-)- Friday, March 28, 2008 5:14:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
I knew that building looked familiar and then you mentioned Earthquake, one of Charleton Heston's less successful efforts, if I recall.
Cheers.- Friday, March 28, 2008 5:51:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
This would be comical...if it were not so sad.
- Friday, March 28, 2008 6:50:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
What an amazing travelogue of photos as this building goes through renovations. It does look like the owners are only using the outside to make money on advertising. But it is a shame that the inside is going to waste for so long, since the 2001 fire.
I can certainly understand your questioning what is happening with the building when it is literally in your backyard every day.
Your photos never cease to amaze me nor does the view from your deck!- Friday, March 28, 2008 7:26:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
What an interesting series of photos of its history. I would have had no idea a building could remain empty that long and still not be torn down. There are a few buildings I know of that are bad luck buildings and never keep a tenant or seem to get remodeled in a way that works but one that huge is the first I've seen.
I would also consider those big ads to be visual pollution. Amazing they allow them but then I guess money talks- Friday, March 28, 2008 8:49:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Another absorbing post Naomi. Some buildings seem doomed don't they? I'm wondering if they project those ads on the the wall rather than paint them.
Ohhh Jacque Brel - Paris in the sixties and heart ache! Don't ask:)- Friday, March 28, 2008 10:25:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Those are fascinating pictures - and I can't wait to see the rest of the story!!
- Friday, March 28, 2008 11:12:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
I love the fact that you bring me such interesting posts with so much interesting history.
You know you should be a tour guide - ahhh...but, you are through your blog you share such a love for your city...and we get to share your life...How lucky!!!- Friday, March 28, 2008 12:51:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
So far, I haven't seen much advertising at that level here in the UK.
Mind you, the artwork is better than the 'glamour' photos.
I love your potted history of the tower; a lifetime of it, so to speak :-)
cq- Friday, March 28, 2008 2:34:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
As you have said and written before:
Is it progress?
-- or what's the force and meaning behind (such garbage) what you have to look at every day?
Oh Oh Oh - these matters is better to talk face to face than via blog.
btw. I'll see what I can do when visting my Son in Michigan early August - coming over to CA?. Have family in SF area.
Anna will visit Ingelin in Hong Kong late June and beginning of July. I go there in October.- Friday, March 28, 2008 4:35:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
I think that LA ought to have a law that you cannot advertise like that on a whole building. That it is there at all is bad for the people who live behind it, but to add ugly ads like that is terrible.
- Friday, March 28, 2008 5:18:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Thanks for sharing LA through your eyes and those of your camera. I feel like I've been there now, in a way. The Sunset Vine Tower was built a couple of years before I was born. So much has happened to it in 40+ years. I love top floor restaurants and I would've enjoyed Simply Blues.
My son would enjoy seeing that last building with the "Transformers" ad on it. Personally, I think there are too many ads on these buildings; it ruins the view and takes away from their history and charm.- Friday, March 28, 2008 6:11:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
So many changes in just one building!
- Friday, March 28, 2008 6:29:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Thanks for documenting the story of the building. I wonder just hop much it costs them to "wrap" the building in advertisements. I'm sure there would be planning laws about doing that in this country. Looking forward to the next part :)
- Saturday, March 29, 2008 6:57:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Naomi, what an amazing history of this huge building. You did a good photo reportage here. Sounds this building have a bad luck indeed!
I am looking forward to see the Part 2 of this story...
Sorry I could not to sent you some yummy fruits... LOL!- Saturday, March 29, 2008 9:08:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
what a great idea for a post! this is a very interesting series of photos of that building Naomi. I can hardly wait for part 2!
- Saturday, March 29, 2008 11:05:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Hi,
I'm back again.
Firstly thanks for your nice comment on my post from yesterday;)
The French word for "medly" and also a soup:
http://www.answers.com/topic/potpourri
When talking about French:
Jaques Brel - What an artist he was. And the play you here mention:
I could cry for less. He gave himself.
I remember, when working in Paris back in -67, we did not have money to go to Olympia - the famous show theatre in Paris - but we watched his show on TV soon after: Brel at Olympia. I got "geeseskin".
Most people do think he was French, but in fact from the French spoken part of Belgium. I have a collection of his songs - on vinyl.
When I listen to his song of the Port of Amsterdam - I'm thrilled.
Well, that's it for now.- Saturday, March 29, 2008 11:36:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
I think it is amazing that you have taken so many pictures over the years of that same building, fasinating watching it change.
they really do just seem to use it as a huge billboard these days.- Saturday, March 29, 2008 2:26:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
That building must be cursed or something.
Maybe a witch cast a spell on it.
How strange that a building there could stay empty and unused for so long.
I DID see transformers with my kids.
It was a fun movie, not a classic by ANY means, but fun nonetheless.- Saturday, March 29, 2008 9:17:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Something about this post reminded me of my Hawaii trip. I spent one whole day on my balcony studying the people at the pool and kept up a running commentary for my husband about an older heavy man getting a sunburn. (I think I made my husband stay in that day because he had gotten too much sun the day before.) It was fun watching the changes through the day. He got redder and redder and then his wife was coating him with sunscreen and then he was wrapped in towels and had moved into the shade. It's fun to watch all these things going on from the comfort of your own space.
- Saturday, March 29, 2008 11:49:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Never a dull moment with buildings Naomi and in fact I have noticed from reading your blog that you are never bore with things around you.
You have this wonderful sense of things around you and for that I am thankful to be able to share everything nice around you, around your life :D- Sunday, March 30, 2008 1:44:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Interesting to see the trials and tribulations of the building and I didn't find that Bradgelina film very good either.
We get these building wraps on the way into London from the west now. Thats the route from Heathrow airport and they change them every few days. None as big as your one in L.A. but I suppose its only a matter of time.
There a small piece on my car cam from west London but that was at night, so not quite so clear!- Sunday, March 30, 2008 9:02:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Wow. The evolution of this building is unbelievable. I never would have thought one would go thru so many changes, especially so drastic.
- Sunday, March 30, 2008 6:11:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Wow Naomi!! It's amazing the changes in the appearance of this building!! So neat that you got all these photos as things were changing. Seems it has had lots of makeovers. I don't like the ads on the sides either!
Now, since I'm late getting here, I'll read "the rest of the story" in your second part!!!- Sunday, March 30, 2008 7:27:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Did you just show us a building getting naked??? * big eyes *
- Sunday, March 30, 2008 11:53:00 PM PDT
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had this to say:
I worked in this building at L.A. Leasing Systems from 1977 - 1979. I think I was on the 14th floor. Of course as a receptionist, I didn't have a window, but I would sometimes go and stare out of one of the offices. Simply Blues was a wonderful restuarant. The view was spectacular and the father and son team was a charming combination. Do you know if they (Michael and his dad) ever opened another restaurant?
Thanks for the update about this building.- Monday, May 4, 2009 1:56:00 AM PDT
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