Showing posts with label Hollywood Bowl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hollywood Bowl. Show all posts

Saturday, October 23, 2021

Mulholland Drive - From Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley - 2012

 


Skyline of Downtown Los Angeles, viewed from the Hollywood Bowl Overlook on Mulholland Drive - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)

Mulholland Drive - From Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley

During our driving tour of Hollywood, Carrie McCoy and I had already experienced several adventures. First, we had viewed a LACoFD training exercise at the Hollywood Bowl. For lunch, we stopped at Legendary Paul Pink’s Hot Dogs on La Brea Ave. After lunch, we drove toward Mount Lee to take pictures of the Hollywood Sign. Then, we departed Hollywood, via the Yellow Brick Road, better known as Mulholland Drive.

In its first mile, Mulholland Drive climbs from Cahuenga Pass to the crest of the Hollywood Hills. A quick series of switchbacks and hairpin curves introduces the neophyte motorist to the full Mulholland Drive experience. As Jim Morrison once sang in Roadhouse Blues, "Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel." If you do not, you could easily leave the roadway or mix with oncoming traffic. Until you pull over to let them pass, many drivers will tailgate you there at any speed. Over the decades, auto and motorcycle racing on Mulholland Drive has cost many lives. Since we were on a sightseeing tour, I pulled aside often, thus allowing traffic to clear.

Architect Harry Gesner's 1975 "Paraglider House", atop the Hollywood Hills on Macapa Drive. To many, this mysterious structure above Mulholland Drive and the Hollywood Bowl Overlook was a dubious addition to the contemporary Los Angeles skyline - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Our first stop was at the Hollywood Bowl Overlook. Although the view down-canyon to the Hollywood Bowl was disappointing, the view east to Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles was classic. In the foreground were the Hollywood Freeway and the Capitol Records Building. Seven miles east was the Emerald City, better known as the skyline of Downtown Los Angeles. From the overlook, on that clear day, we could see the LA Basin in all of its glory.

With tour buses often crowding the small lot, Hollywood Bowl Overlook parking is limited. Just west of the overlook, there is adequate, if crumbling street-side parking. From there, however, one must cross through traffic to see the views. Like many places with limited parking and extraordinary views, people tend to linger. For them, it is like owning the view without having to pay for it. I walked in, looked around, took my pictures and returned to my vehicle.

While walking back to my car, I looked up to see an infamous, yet iconic single family home. Designed by architect Harry Gesner, the "Haynes House", as it was originally known, came to roost on its prominent hillside location in 1975. Although another of Gesner’s houses inspired the Sydney Opera House, the Gesner house at 7000 Macapa Drive has inspired more scorn than praise.

Single family residence at 7000 Macapa Drive, under reconstruction in January 2012 - Click for alternative image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)With its Gesner-signature roof design, what I call the "Paraglider House" is the antithesis of Frank Lloyd Wright's “organic architecture”. According to FLW, building atop the crest of a hill destroys the hill. Viewed from the Hollywood Freeway below, the structure looks like an overgrown beach shack, silently screaming, “Look at me. Look at me”. I would prefer a house above the Hollywood Bowl Overlook that could project itself into group consciousness with less blatancy.

The public record on the Paraglider House is mixed. In early 2010, the owner had listed it for $2,695,000, or almost exactly one thousand dollars per square foot. Apparently, it sold later that year for $2.0 million. Even that was expensive for a thirty-five year old, three-bedroom, three-bath house encompassing 2,698 square feet. In essence, someone bought the view, not the house. In October 2011, a Google Street View showed the house stripped to the studs and under reconstruction. As of this writing, construction was ongoing.

Mt. Lee, with the "H" in the Hollywood sign visible on the right side of the image - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)As one might experience anywhere on Mulholland Drive, our sojourn west included many tight turns and a few confusing street signs. Needing a rest, we stopped at one of many turnouts provided along the road by the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy. By then we were well away from Hollywood and approaching the San Fernando Valley. Having grown up in Burbank, California, I knew how hazy the sky could be in The Valley. From our perch atop the Hollywood Hills, we marveled at the clear sky and long views.

To our right, we could see Mt. Lee, famed for its Hollywood Sign and named for early Los Angeles car dealer and broadcaster Don Lee. At the top of Mt. Lee stands a communications tower that dates back to at least 1941. In the late 1930s, the first Los Angeles television broadcasts emanated from that tower. During my high school days in the 1960s, you could still drive to the top of Mt. Lee and enjoy a 360-degree view of Los Angeles and the Valley. Today, a gate far below prevents traffic from surmounting Mt. Lee. From our vantage that day, we could see an end-on view of the Hollywood sign, clinging to the far-right slope of the mountain. My father's memories of Los Angeles television history follow below.

Traditional RCA Indian Head Test Pattern Card - Click for larger, HD version of the image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Dr. Loron N. McGillis: “The call letters for the first Los Angeles television station were W6XAO. They transmitted from the communication tower atop Mt. Lee. When the station came on in the early evening, we watched on our 7" Motorola TV. During the day, they broadcast the traditional Indian Head test pattern, with emanating black and white bars. There was also a news tape running across the bottom of the screen. In 1948, the station became KTSL and in 1951, they changed again, to KNXT. In the 1980s, they changed again to the current KCBS TV.”

Panning my camera to the left, Spokesmodel Carrie McCoy appeared in my rangefinder. With lush vegetation behind her and a smile on her face, I could not resist taking yet another picture of the original “Valley Girl”, from Burbank, California. “Look”, Carrie said, “From here, you can see Universal City and Warner Bros. Studios”.

Spokesmodel Carrie McCoy at the Universal City Overlook on Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, California - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)As I looked down from a curve on Mulholland Drive, the most prominent building in view had a huge sign that read, “NBCUniversal", with no separation between those two iconic names. In a not-so-subtly way, the resident media giants NBC and Universal Studios had melded into one. It reminded me of the dark days in the 1970s, when executives briefly renamed Warner Bros. Studios, “The Burbank Studios”. When the next intergalactic mega-media firm takes over NBCUniversal, that prominent office tower will display yet another in a long list of corporate logos.

Even in Los Angeles, few people remember who built what we now call the NBCUniversal Building in Universal City. In the 1970s, at the height of his wealth and fame, oilman J. Paul Getty commissioned the building as the Getty Oil Company headquarters. Although the building looks rectangular to the casual observer, its narrow lot and adjacency to the Hollywood Freeway dictated a trapezoidal shape. Although any form other than rectilinear creates triangular offices and wasted space, Getty and his oil company had money to burn. To make the edifice look more impressive, Getty specified an exterior clad in Italian marble. In 1976, prior to completion of the building, J. Paul Getty died.

Over the top of Universal Studios, the iconic Warner Bros. Studios sound stages and water tower dominate the scene - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)In 1984, when giant Texaco Oil purchased Getty Oil, the building became the Texaco Building. In 1985, when Texaco lost in court to Pennzoil, that smaller company became sole owner of both Getty Oil and the Getty Building. If there was ever a Texaco sign at the top of that building, it did not last for long. As with media companies, Old Energy oil companies come and they go. Only their buildings remain to hint at their former glory. Exactly how the Getty Building morphed into the NBCUniversal Building, I cannot say. If history foretells anything, that building will not be the NBCUniversal Building forever.

Panning to the right of the Getty/Texaco/Pennzoil/NBCUniversal Building, I realized that I was looking down upon both Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Studios. In the 1960s, Universal Studios was a relatively small affair, with a concentration of buildings and activities on Lankershim Blvd., in North Hollywood. With the advent of the Universal Amphitheater, the Universal Studios Tour and Universal City Walk, most of the “back lot” succumbed to development. For reasons unknown, there is only one exception to that over-development.

The "NBCUniversal" logo sign atop the old Getty Oil Headquarters Building at Universal City, Los Angeles, California - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)On a hillside lot, overlooking the corner of Barham Blvd. and Buddy Holly Drive, a haunted house once stood. Having sneaked up to the house with my high school friends, I know that it was haunted. At night, we could see a dim light glowing inside the house. As we approached from below, I tripped over a half buried headstone and fell headlong down a muddy slope. Using a flashlight, we read the names and dates of death on several tilting headstones. After determining that one grave was that of a child, we scrambled back to our car, never to return. That haunted house is gone now, but remnants of the circular driveway are still visible on Google Earth.

All good ghost stories and all good Hollywood auto tours must end. Carrie and I still had one last stop to make at the intersection of Mulholland Drive and Interstate I-405. There, we planned to visit with Coney the Traffic Cone, where he stood guard over the missing bridge lane at Mulholland Drive in Sepulveda Pass.

 


By James McGillis at 04:53 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

The Hollywood Sign and the Gateway to Mulholland Drive - 2012

 


The 1940 Streamline Moderne facade, marquee and signage at the Hollywood Palladium Theater - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)

Two Hollywood Mystery Locations - The Hollywood Sign and the Gateway to Mulholland Drive

Continuing our January 2012 driving tour of historical Hollywood places, Carrie McCoy and I departed Paul Pink’s Hot Dogs on La Brea Ave. heading north toward Hollywood 28, as it was known in the old days. The beautiful residential streets in the lower slopes of Hollywood mesmerized us. We emerged from that bubble at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Argyle Ave. As I turned right on to Sunset Blvd., I caught a glimpse of the Hollywood Sign, several miles away.

After stopping the car, I got out and took several long shot images of the Hollywood Sign. Panning to my right, I recognized the Hollywood Palladium, a Streamline Moderne Hollywood theater built in 1940. According to the marquee, “Bassrush Presents” hosted a sold-out electronic music event there
The top of the cylindrical Capitol Records Building, an icon of the skyline in Hollywood, California - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)the previous night. From the Big Band era to  Nero, the return of Funktion and the 12th Planet's “The End is Near Tour”, the Palladium has seen and heard it all.

Continuing north on Argyle Ave, I stopped to view the iconic Capitol Records Building. When it opened in 1956, both the public had mixed opinions about the building. It had been a while since a new Los Angeles building had made a whimsical statement through its architecture. Although its statement was not as literal as the old Brown Derby, the building’s cylindrical structure did evoke a stack of 45-RPM records. This thirteen story turntable featured a roof pinnacle that looked like a soaring stylus.

To some, it was a reference to vinyl as state-of-the-art in the recording industry. Others hailed the building’s energy-saving features. There were
The original 1929 Hollywood Tower Apartments, listed in the National Register of Historical Places - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)exterior metal sunshades, which surrounded each of the floors. In contrast to the trend toward sealed glass towers, the building’s windows were operable. The combination of shade and afternoon sea breezes allowed workers to enjoy fresh air, without the need for constant air-conditioning.

Still heading north, but now on Gower Street, we approached the Hollywood Freeway. Poking above both the skyline and the freeway was the original 1929 Hollywood Tower Apartments. Its tower sign is visible to thousands of motorists driving north each day on the Hollywood Freeway. Is it any wonder
that Walt Disney Company, under Michael Eisner expropriated the historic name Hollywood Tower for an attraction at their California Adventure theme park in The Hollywood Sign, viewed from Gower Street in Hollywood, California - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Anaheim?

As freeway drivers curve gracefully around the faux French Normandy concrete monolith, few realize that highway engineers created that jog in the Hollywood Freeway in order to avoid the landmark. In its early days, and into the 1980s, many writers and actors called the Hollywood Tower Apartments home. From the tower itself, they could lord over all of Hollywood, so long as they paid the rent.

Continuing up Gower Street, we followed the path towards Hollywood’s Holy Grail – the Hollywood Sign. As with all things Hollywood, the simple, direct path may not lead to your destination. In the upper reaches of Gower Street, the terrain screens the Hollywood sign from view. In the lower canyon, there are several good, if distant views of the sign.

The Pilgrimage Bridge over the Hollywood Freeway, Los Angeles, California - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)If you seek a close-up view, consult with Google. By the way, the residents of North Beachwood Drive would prefer that you stay away. Parking is almost nonexistent and the road is narrow. Although we did step out on to lower Gower Street to photograph the fabled sign, we soon turned back and headed for equally fabled Mulholland Drive.

Hollywood is full of secrets. One of best kept is how to access Mulholland Drive at its source, just north of the Hollywood Bowl. Traveling from Hollywood, the directional signage is of little help. Google Maps gets the route correct HERE and gives an alternate route using the Pilgrimage Bridge HERE. I have no interest in conspiracy theories, unless they are my own, so here are my facts to support the Mulholland Drive Conspiracy.

• The first “Mulholland Drive” sign on Cahuenga Blvd. North directs you appropriately toward the Mulholland Drive Bridge.
• At the Pilgrimage Bridge intersection, the "Mulholland Drive" directional signage is partially obscured by a traffic signal on the left side, as seen in this Google Street View.
• If you turn left across the Pilgrimage Bridge, a "Right Turn Only" sign will direct you unknowingly towards your goal.
• Less than one mile north on Cahuenga Blvd. West, there is a traffic signal, with access to Mulholland Drive, at the point where it actually takes the Mulholland name.

Let us go back and assume that you did not access the Pilgrimage Bridge, instead motoring north on Cahuenga Blvd. East.

• At that point, the obscured sign that you missed seeing leaves you guessing and then shunts you on to the Hollywood Freeway North.
• If you manage to escape the freeway trap, stay to the right and continue north on Cahuenga Blvd. East.
• Soon, you will pass under the Mulholland Drive Bridge itself.
• Without any warning or directional signage, you must then turn right at Lakeridge Place., reversing direction in order to head south.
• Soon, with new energy light shining down as it does in this Google Street View, you will gain access to the original, two-lane, 1940 Mulholland Bridge.
• After crossing over the freeway, you will intersect Mulholland Drive, which was your original destination.

The original 1940 Mulholland Drive Bridge over the Hollywood Freeway, viewed from Cahuenga Blvd. East - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)As I indicate above, why should any historic Los Angeles street be so difficult to find? Did some influential residents of Mulholland Drive ask City Hall to remove the directional signage? Did residents pay a private crew to remove the signs? Did adequate directional signage from Hollywood to Mulholland Drive ever exist? In the absence of a simple answer, I cannot yet abandon my Mulholland Drive Hollywood Conspiracy Theory.

In our next article, we will motor along the scenic Mulholland Drive to the new Mulholland Drive Bridge, currently undergoing replacement in Sepulveda Pass.


By James McGillis at 11:35 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

Thursday, October 21, 2021

LA County Fire Department Aerial Truck 8 at the Hollywood Bowl - 2012

 


Fire Truck 8 - LA County "tillered ladder" quint at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)

LA County Fire Department Aerial Truck 8 at the Hollywood Bowl

On a recent trip to Hollywood, California, I decided to visit some of my favorite historical places, including the Hollywood Bowl. Rather than watching a concert, I just wanted to see the place on a Sunday afternoon. Upon arrival at the parking lot, I realized it had been almost thirty-nine years since my last visit, on September 7, 1973.
 
I still have fond memories of that classic night at the premier Hollywood venue. Some call it “The Lost Concert”. Others Google “Elton+1973” and find Harvey Jordan’s classic image of Elton John playing live at the Hollywood Bowl. To this day, my Elton John 9/7/73 T-shirt from that night is a treasured artifact.
 
LA County Truck Company 8 is a 1998 KME 100 ft. Tillered Quint Aerial Ladder - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)When I was growing up, every boy wanted to be either a “fireman” or a “policeman”. Today, every child, regardless of gender can aspire to be a firefighter or a police officer. Still, the little boy in me stopped and stared when I saw Los Angeles County Fire Department Truck 8, which is an immense “tillered ladder”, with separate rear wheel steering. Also called a tractor-drawn aerial (TDA) or hook-and-ladder truck, it featured a turntable ladder mounted on a semi-trailer "lorry", as the British might say.
 
In motion, it would have two drivers, each with separate steering wheels for the front and rear wheels. The fifth-wheel articulating design provides a short turning radius and high maneuverability. Rear trailer steering allows the “tiller driver” to negotiate tight corners and congested streets in and around its West Hollywood home base.
 
Stern view of LACoFD TDA Truck 8, a tillered ladder quint, at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)With research, I discovered that Truck 8 is A Quint truck is both a pumper and a ladder truck. A "Quint" has: 1. a pump, 2. hose, 3. a water tank, 4. ground ladders, and 5. an aerial ladder. Truck 8 has a 1000-gpm pump, and carries 300 gallons of water, and 25 gallons of foam, delivered through a pre-piped aerial waterway. Truck 8 carries 218 ft. of ground ladders, an Amkus Rescue System and seven air bags. With only 300 gallons of water onboard, Truck/Quint 8 supplements available resources rather than acting as an engine/truck combination.
 
Truck 8 was immaculate, from bow to tiller. There was no grease, grime or even dust on its traditional high-lacquer red finish. With its pristine look, I would not have guessed that the truck had already seen fourteen years of service. To me, it was timeless, as were my wishes to fight fires and save lives. Growing up in Los Angeles in mid-century, I watched the TV show “Rescue 8” and the later TV show, called “Emergency”. Both shows featured LACoFD Station 8, where Truck 8 stands ready today.
 
The ultimate Route 66 vehicle - Route 66 logo sticker on the LACoFD tillered ladder quint - Truck 8 - at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)On the front bumper of the aerial truck was a large black and white sticker featuring the old Route 66 logo. Seeing the distinctive logo, I recalled that nearby Interstate I-10 (the Santa Monica Freeway) was the replacement road for Old-66 through Los Angeles. During a recent spate of arson fires in and around Hollywood, Truck 8 responded to the multiday fire-related disaster.
 
After recovering from my daydreams of being the tiller driver on Truck 8, I spotted members of LACoFD Station 8 conducting a live firefighting drill in the parking lot. As their water source, they employed Engine 8, which operates a 1995 KME 1000-gpm engine. Wearing yellow waterproof gear, Firefighter Darney, trained a powerful water hose skyward, casting an arc of water gently across the sky. On first look, it looked like a waste of water. Stepping closer, I saw that he directed the stream of water into the extensive landscaping throughout the terraced parking lot.
 
As Coney the Traffic Cone stands by, LACoFD Firefighter Darney trains his powerful water hose across the Hollywood Bowl parking lot, Los Angeles, California - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)With the old Pilgrimage Theater cross standing on the far hillside and the sun at his back, the firefighter trained the powerful stream of water back and forth across the landscape. As he did so, the cascade of falling water created a rainbow all around him. It was a glorious sight on a clear winter day in the City of the Angels. Later, I realized that Coney the Traffic Cone had sidled up close to the firefighter, to take in all the action.

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By James McGillis at 03:11 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

Friday, November 22, 2019

Elton John 1973 "Lost Concert" T-shirt Replica Available at MoabJim.com - 2008


MoabJim (Jim McGillis) wearing the restored vintage Elton John 9/7/73 "Lost Concert" t-shirt - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)

Elton John 1973 "Lost Concert" T-shirt Replica Available at MoabJim.com

In late 2002, I dragged out my slowly deteriorating Elton John September 7, 1973 Hollywood Bowl vintage concert t-shirt and assessed its sad condition.  The silkscreen image on my vintage Elton John t-shirt was crumbling further with each washing.

A spirit told me that I might have the last souvenir t-shirt from that magical Hollywood night, so I decided to restore my vintage 9/7/73 garment.  After snapping a digital picture of the t-shirt, I began the laborious "re-pixilation" of that image. 

Over the course of several months, I spent at least 200 hours restoring my 9/7/73 Elton John T-shirt image to as close to the original merchandise as possible.
The restored image of Elton John from the 9/7/73 Concert - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)
The Elton John replica concert t-shirt is a MoabJim worldwide exclusive item, not found on TV or in any store.  Be the first on your block to relive Elton's classic live concert of 1973 in bright red style.  To learn more or to make a secure purchase via PayPal, go to MoabJim.com and click on the word "Apparel". Ten dollars of every purchase will go to the Elton John Aids Foundation.

January 5, 2014 - Author's Note - After shipping another Elton John replica t-shirt to a customer, I received the following note from fellow concert attendee, "N.K.". His vivid recollections of that night and the concert itself help us all to remember that special night with Elton John at the Hollywood Bowl.

I received the t-shirt and washed it per your instructions, but haven't worn it yet.

Elton's 9/7/73 Hollywood Bowl concert has become one of my favorite stories, one that I tell over and over again. Just walking in with everyone to find our seats was an experience, as I'm sure you remember that the crowd was really into it as a "happening" and LA did it up right. Everyone was dressed and ready for a party, and Elton sure gave us one. One thing I remember was seeing someone wearing clear plastic platform shoes with live goldfish in them, and everyone was dressed to the nines.

Remember the mermaids? The stagehands carried out a couple of women in full mermaid costumes and set them down in the fountains, which started flowing and lit up with colored lights. All the "celebrity" guests walked up the stairway and then down to the audience, and when they lifted up the lids of the five pastel-colored grand pianos that spelled out "E-L-T-O-N" on the lids, all the doves flew out of the pianos, and circled round and round in the colored spotlights pointing up above the audience.

The smoke from all the joints going in the crowd was like fog in the air, and when Elton walked down the stairs in his furs and plumes, and his glasses lit up to spell "Elton", the crowd went crazy.
As I recall, he did a set with the band, then a solo set at the piano, and then brought the band back for the finale, and each song was one that everyone knew. I think it was part of the Yellow Brick Road release tour, and as Elton himself said, he was at the peak of his creativity.

Thanks for the effort you put in to recreate the T-shirt - I'm looking forward to wearing it for the first time and saying "This shirt? Let me tell you what that concert was like..."

Cheers, N.K.

Email James McGillis
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By James McGillis at 01:53 PM | Personal Articles | Comments (0) | Link

Elton John Live at The Hollywood Bowl - 9/7/73


The Hollywood Bowl ca. 1973, prior to restoration. (http://jamewsmcgillis.com)

Hollywood Nights - Hollywood Lights

Elton John Live at The Hollywood Bowl - 9/7/73

 

News items for

September 7, 1973:

 
  • Palestinian commandos and five Saudi Arabian hostages depart Paris in a Syrian Jet, heading for Jordan.
  • Cambodian Guerrilla fighters sweep through the southern half of the strategic Kompong Cham Province.
  • The U.S. Senate votes to forbid television blackouts of professional sports events that sell-out 72 hours in advance.
  • The Grateful Dead play live at the Nassau, NY Coliseum, including their first live performance of “Let it Grow”.
  • The U.S. Senate Watergate committee loses a bid to gain access to President Nixon's White House secret tape recordings in time for its final hearings.
  • The Merv Griffin Show features Jack Benny, Mel Ferrer and Twiggy.
  • In a transcendent performance, Elton John plays the Hollywood Bowl.
 
For several weeks prior, a huge billboard of Elton John, pictured in Fred Astaire-style white tie & tails, hat and cane had graced the Sunset Strip, adding to the hype of the big night to come. 
 
As the lights went down on a classic Hollywood Bowl night, an electric air Classic 1973 t-shirt image of Elton John in tie and tales.  Click for larger image. (copyright, http://jamesmcgillis.com)of anticipation swept the crowd.  Searchlights swept the Hollywood night, as MC for the evening, porn star Linda Lovelace descended a grand staircase and introduced a series of celebrity impersonators, including Queen Elizabeth II, Elvis (The King), Mae West, Groucho Marx, The Beatles and Dr. Frankenstein’s Monster.
 
Having whipped the audience into frenzy, Linda went on to announce, “Ladies and gentlemen please welcome the biggest, gigantic, most colossal…  Elton John”.  Resplendent in a white feathery cowboy outfit that spangled and sparkled from every seam, Elton descended the staircase.  At that moment, five colored grand pianos opened together, spelling ‘ELTON’ on their lids. 
 
As hundreds of white doves flew from the five pianos, Elton launched into the rocking “Elderberry Wine”.  One of the doves flew nearly straight at me, bouncing off the fan standing next to me and landing at our feet.
 
Original sheet music cover from Elton John song,"Candle In The Wind" (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Maybe once, maybe twice in a lifetime, we are present at a creation so different from its precedents; it sweeps us away to a new dimension.  Critics and fans alike agreed that September 7, 1973 was such a night.  Remarking later about this time in his career, Elton said, “It was magic; that creative period of my life will never come again.”  Chris Charlesworth, in Melody Maker's September 15, 1973 issue, called this show “Elton's finest hour”.
 
If my memory still serves me, a live crocodile crawled across the stage during the band’s rendition of “Crocodile Rock”, while Elton John's sound engineer played electric piano dressed as a crocodile! 
 
The Elton John 1973 "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" album cover, Click image for larger image. (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Released just that day as a single in England, Elton sang, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and "Candle in the Wind", later turned into a paean for his fallen friend, Princess Diana.  “Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting” rested comfortably that day at #8 on the Billboard Chart.  Other songs played that night include “Honky Cat”, “Rocket Man”, “All the Girls Love Alice”, “Daniel”, “Madman Across the Water” and “Teacher I Need You”.  
 
Perhaps it is a cliché to say that a lot has changed in the past 35 years, but little has changed as much as the cost of concert tickets and concert memorabilia.  At that time, tickets to one of the best live performances of the 20th Century were less than $15.  Each of the 16,000 attendees who was willing to wait in line received a free concert t-shirt, showing Elton John, dressed in tails, with a top hat and cane.
Classic Elton John 1973 t-shirt image, undergoing "reconstruction" (http://jamesmcgillis.com) 
Several years ago, I dragged out my personal t-shirt from that night and assessed its sad condition.  The silkscreen image of Elton looked as bad as Leonardo da Vinci’s, The Last Supper, prior to restoration.  Something told me that I had the last souvenir t-shirts from that magical night... and I wanted to save it for posterity.
 
After snapping a digital image of the t-shirt, I began computer “re-pixilation” of that image.  Over the course of several months, I spent many hours restoring the image to one that is nearly identical to the original. We are happy to say that exact replicas of the t-shirt are now available. For more information, click HERE. Or, click HERE for secure PayPal purchase of your own exact replica of the original Elton John Hollywood Bowl 9/7/73 t-shirt. Ten dollars of every sale will go to the Elton John Aids Foundation.
 
While researching Elton John’s September 7, 1973 Hollywood Bowl concert, I found several written references, but no images at all.  Could the pictures you see here be the only remaining images of Elton John, in his glory, at the pinnacle moment of his career? (Answer below)
Elton John at the piano, live at the Hollywood Bowl, Sept. 7, 1973 - Permission, Harvey Jordan - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com) 

Comment By Harvey Jordan on Thursday, March 17, 2011 08:30 AM | - Elton Live at the Bowl - Harvey wrote,  "Thought I'd show you one of my 9/7/73 shots. I was in the 10th row with a telephoto lens." 
 
<--Click on Elton for a larger image, by legendary Rock & Roll photographer, Harvey Jordan.
 

By James McGillis at 01:09 PM | Personal Articles | Comments (3) | Link