A Guide to the Best of Southern California : HISTORY : Hollywood Revisited
Out-of-town guests begging to see the glamorous sights of Hollywood? All you know about the city of stars is it ain’t what it used to be? The “Tales of Hollywood” won’t make you an expert, but the 45-minute audiocassette, replete with music and sound effects, will fill your head with some offbeat fodder.
Steven Schochet, a 29-year-old professional tour guide, spent four years compiling anecdotes and infobits about the movie biz for the $8.95 tape, which recalls the glory days of Errol Flynn, Charlie Chaplin, Shirley Temple, Alfred Hitchcock and studio founders, to name a few.
“The history of Hollywood is very much related to the history and growth of Los Angeles,” Schochet says. “The tape is just as much for people who have lived here all their lives as it for those who are only visiting.”
Indeed, you probably didn’t know that . . . :
* Long before unruly mobs disrupted screenings of “New Jack City” at local theaters, police were called in to break up a crowd outside the 1938 New York premiere of “Pinocchio.”
* In the early 1900s, some area hotels posted signs that read: “NO DOGS OR ACTORS ALLOWED.”
* Early filmmakers greased Los Angeles streets and secretly filmed real-life accidents to save the expense of creating their own crash scenes.
“Tales of Hollywood” is available at Mann’s Chinese Theatre Gift Shop, 6927 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; (213) 463-9576.
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