This is the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Sid Grauman opened it in 1922 and it was home to Hollywood's first ever movie premiere, Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks.
This is the original facade of the Alexander Theatre, opened in Glendale 1924. It was inspired by The Egyptian and featured a similar courtyard-like area.
This is what it looked like from the street.
In 1939 the front was added to it as designed by the same architectural firm that did the Hotel Glendale, AKA, home of The Cave Wine Storage. In 1940 it acquired the 100-ft. tall column and its name was shortened to The Alex to fit the new neon marquis.
This is what it looks like now.
This is what it looked like most of this week. Was Glendale suddenly becoming awesome? No, just a film shoot, it turns out, for an upcoming Linda Lovelace biopic. Bummer.Speaking of wine and porn, it turns out there is a connection that includes not Dionysus but Robert Parker. In 2006, adult movie actress Natalie Oliveros (screen name Savannah Samson) released her debut Italian wine, a 2004 Sogno Uno. (I'd link her wine's website right about now, but it's her lying across a bed of grapes naked, so I'll leave that one up to you.) Robert Parker rated this wine 90-91.
PS. if you click onto the photos posted, they will lead you to the very interesting websites where they were found.