There was a time when Hollywood Boulevard was a truly glamorous destination.

During the 1920s, the film industry was booming and the municipality of Hollywood was freshly incorporated into the city of Los Angeles. Prospect Avenue was renamed Hollywood Boulevard, and a flurry of tony hotels, palatial theaters and glitzy boutiques opened along the stretch between Vine Street and Highland Avenue. Dreamers from all around the country made their way west to be discovered along the boulevard — at the soda fountain of Schwab’s Pharmacy (corner of Cosmo) or Café Montmartre (between Highland and McCadden). Most movie stars of the time lived above the boulevard in the Hollywood Hills, and the first Academy Awards ceremony took place at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel (a venue that seems inconceivable

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