Visit to Capitol Records

For the first time since moving to L.A. more than 40 years ago, I visited the storied Capitol Records building in Hollywood, located on Vine Street, near the intersection of Hollywood Blvd. and Vine.

Late last year, while I happened to be driving past the iconic structure in the middle of the work day, on a sudden impulse, I decided to stop and check it out up close. It helped that I immediately found a metered parking spot across the street, making the visit pretty easy and straightforward.

Although I learned there's no public street entrance into the building—access appears to be through a private garage with a security entrance—I was thrilled to discover the Hollywood Walk of Fame Stars for the individual Beatles all in a row, appropriately placed near the building's base, as seen in the video at the bottom of this post. Nearby were stars for Joan Crawford, Bob Dylan and Buddy Holly.

I reside less than 10 miles from Hollywood (and only need to take local streets), but going there sometimes feels like a big production and hassle due to traffic, parking, and because it's so touristy.

That said, I've visited Hollywood many times for shows (such as at the Pantages and Kodak Theaters), dinner (including Musso and Frank's), movies (the original Graumann's Chinese Theater), and drinks (with my wife); and shopped at Amoeba Records. In all those years, however, it never really registered with me how close I'd often been to the building, since it's just around the corner from the Pantages and a block from Amoeba. So I'm glad I finally swung by!