103. Hollywood and Vine. Hip, Happenin' Corner or...?

Numero cuatro in our get to know Hollywood series is about the other famous intersection in Hollywood (after Hollywood and Highland), Hollywood and Vine.  BTW, why does Hollywood Boulevard get top billing?  Just a guess, maybe Vine's agent was not as effective as Hollywood's?  A good agent is worth their weight in gold, as Vinnie Chase can testify to.

Any whoo...as luck (or most likely good planning) would have it, Hollywood and Vine (although the actual station is located a block east at Hollywood and Argyle) is also a stop on the Metro Red Line.  As you may recall, the Metro Red Line is Los Angeles' subway line.  BTW, it is your SoCal Gal's opinion, one of the best names for a movie character, Argyle.  And a virtual gold star to those who know what movie she is referring to.

If you don't mind walking the .98 miles from Hollywood/Highland to Hollywood/Vine you can skip the subway ride and enjoy seeing the stars along Hollywood Boulevard's famous Walk of Fame.  Despite other telltale signs you've reached Hollywood and Vine, this intersection has special memorials for the 1968 Moon Landing.

As you will note from the photo, almost a block up from the intersection is the famed, round in shape, Capitol Records Building.  About a block down (or vice-versa depending on your point of view) is Vine and Sunset.  In the last few years a small mall has emerged, including a Borders Book Store (what can I say? most writers also love to read).  At the time this is being written, in the same vicinity a new Trader Joe is in the process of emerging at 1600 N. Vine.  But, I digress.

This expanded corner of Hollywood and Highland includes Pantages Theatre and the Taft Building, 1680 N. Vine Street, the corner's first high rise at 12 stories, built in 1923 by the architects, Walker & Eisen.

You may temporarily live at this corner if you stay at the fairly new and gorgeous W Hotel.  Or you may choose to live at this corner for a longer time by buying a loft in the building with the big bottle of Patron on top (see the photo).

This corner also includes, among other eating establishments, two celebrity eating hang outs: Katsuya Hollywood and Beso, Eva Longoria Parker's entre into the restaurant biz.

Now do you want to go to this once was old, now is new again, hip, happenin' corner?  Is it wrong to use "hip and happenin'"?

Is it wrong that your SoCal Gal is more psyched about the opening of the Trader Joe?  What can she say?  They have great stuff at great prices.  And no...they don't pay her to say that.

And the virtual gold star answer: the original Die Hard (1988)