Capitol Records "Walking Distance" Photo Shoots

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by MLutthans, Jan 1, 2012.

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  1. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff Thread Starter

    (Not sure if this should be in Music or Visual Arts....)

    I've spotted three Capitol Records album covers from the 1950s that are staged, proper photo shoots done within walking distance of their LA studios/offices -- in addition to many that were photographed in the studio itself. Surely there are more "walking distance" album covers from Capitol's "golden age."

    Here are the ones that come to mind. Any others?

    #1: Dean Martin, literally taken outside the Capitol Tower.
    PrettyBabyDeanMartin.jpeg PrettyBabymaps.jpg
    #2: Jonah Jones, taken at the Music Box Theatre (also known at various times as the Fox, Pix, and Henry Fonda theatre -- maybe the Fox at the time of this 1958 photo??) (Bottom photo courtesy Adam Martin at Cinematour.com)
    JonahJones.jpeg MusicBoxMaps.jpg MusicBoxEntranceAdamSmith.jpg
     
  2. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff Thread Starter

    #3: Les Brown, 1956, taken at the RKO Pantages, a block away from the Capitol Tower.
    LesBrownPantagesHollywood.jpeg RKOPantages-theater-7.jpg
     
  3. AaronW

    AaronW Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Right down the street:

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Tone

    Tone Senior Member

    Wow, who's that on the cover of Chet's album? Gretchen?.... We'll never know I'm sure but what a nice .... ah, guitar. :)
     
  5. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    There are more Album pics from that area of Hollywood but my brain is clouded with too many kids and not enough sleep. I'll try and find some tomorrow..
     
  6. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff Thread Starter

    That Chet Atkins cover is great!

    To clarify my OP, though, what I was looking for was albums on Capitol with cover shots within walking distance of their own facility....but hey, I'm easy! The more, the merrier! Still a great cover, and yeah, it's right down the street from the Capitol Tower, and only a few blocks from RCA's Music Center of the World across from Amoeba Music and the Cinerama Dome today. I think the Music Center of the World opened in about 1960?* The Chet album is from '58, and the photo above is from the '61 reissue, no?

    (*RCA's Music Center of the World is listed in the credits of Vic Schoen's March '61 release, "Brass Laced with Strings," engineered by Al Schmitt, the earliest I recall seeing it mentioned. I know that in 1957/58/59, RCA was doing a lot of its recording at Radio Recorders in Santa Monica.)

    Matt
     
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  7. chewy

    chewy Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Coast USA
    LOLZ great thread idea!!!!!!!!!
     
  8. stereoptic

    stereoptic Anaglyphic GORT Staff

    Location:
    NY
    I don't know if this is within walking distance, but here is the cover of a late 1990's Capitol CD Christmas compilation. "Christmas Chestnuts".
     

    Attached Files:

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  9. wildroot indigo

    wildroot indigo Forum Resident

    Kind of a long walk, but there's...

    On The Sunny Side Of The Strip - George Shearing and The Quintet (Capitol T-1416)

    http://parisjazzcorner.com/en/pochs_g/098166.jpg

    ...the Crescendo was west of La Cienega, in the middle of the Sunset Strip.
     
  10. dale 88

    dale 88 Errand Boy for Rhythm

    Location:
    west of sun valley
    How far away was the old Capitol on Melrose from the new Capitol Tower??

    From 1956, the players on this album, Gus Bivona, Benny Carter, Irv Cottler, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Al Hendrickson, Plas Johnson, Murray McEachern, Jimmy Rowles, Mike Rubin, Babe Russin, Shorty Sherock, Willie Smith, we recognize from the Capitol sessions in the forties and fifties.

    [​IMG]
     
  11. jeffrosen

    jeffrosen Forum Resident

    About 2 miles Southeast
     
  12. TeacFan

    TeacFan Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Arcadia, Ca.
    :ed: There should be an historical sign on the sidewalk, just like the one for Wallich's Music City on Vine. Check it out. It brings back great memories.
     
  13. DLant

    DLant The Upstate Gort Staff

    Location:
    Albany, NY
    I would love to hear that album!
     
    dale 88 likes this.
  14. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    RCA actually had two "Music Center of the World" studios in Hollywood. The first was at 1510 North Vine Street, within the old NBC Radio studio complex at Sunset and Vine, where they were situated from March 2, 1959 to April 1, 1964 (the exact dates from old Billboard articles of the respective opening and closing dates; it was after RCA abandoned those grounds that that building was torn down to make way for a bank office). On April 21, 1964, RCA's Hollywood "Music Center of the World" formally relocated to a new office complex at 6363 Sunset Boulevard ('MCoTW II' - and it was from that point that, in the opinion of some on this forum including its namesake/host, the sound quality of much of what was recorded there became, in a word, "sucky"); given that the cover a Chet Atkins album cut out West is shown here, it was somewhat ironic that both the Hollywood setup and Nashville studios (including the now-famous "Studio B") were shut down in January 1977, during a standoff between RCA and engineers' unions - this, being that Atkins was one of the chief architects of what would come to be called the "Nashville Sound."

    That RCA used Radio Recorders for West Coast sessions prior to 1959, was evidenced by the fact that many RCA Custom-pressed 45's for West Coast label clients had RR- prior to the custom matrix number (i.e. a 1959 45 with a prefix RR-K8OW-).
     
  15. StephenMarsh

    StephenMarsh Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA USA
    Paul R, Mister Charlie and apileocole like this.
  16. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    I.I.N.M., Radio Recorders was actually a separate company, situated on Western Avenue from its 1933 founding until the mid-to-late '40's when it began occupying the 7000 Santa Monica Boulevard complex that Victor had built in the late '20's. (Their Annex - later spun-off into Annex Studios - was situated at 1032 North Sycamore Avenue, just a few doors up from RCA's West Coast pressing plant which was at 1016 North Sycamore.)
     
  17. rmos

    rmos Forum Resident

    I wonder if RCA did renovations to these studios around 1968? The Henry Mancini album "The Big Latin Band" sounds much better than any previous Mancini LP recorded there.
     
  18. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    They may've upgraded their equipment, that's for sure . . .
     
  19. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff Thread Starter

    I may have found another album cover shot within walking distance of the Capitol Tower....maybe:
    I+Cry+By+Night.jpg
    Anybody think that may be the Palladium on Sunset blurred out in the background?
     
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  20. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff Thread Starter

    Another cool old shot of the Pantages marquee that I found on an LP jacket, only I forget which album this is from! :confused:
    Pantages.jpg
     
  21. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    The basement of the Pantages once held such Capitol goodies (John Kraus showed me) that I'm sad to say are now all destroyed.
     
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  22. DLant

    DLant The Upstate Gort Staff

    Location:
    Albany, NY
    [​IMG]

    What Capitol location is this in LA? Was this prior to Melrose?
     
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  23. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff Thread Starter

    That was their office space, not studio space, and this was actually their second office location. I've got a photo of office space #1, but it's at home and I'm not. Give me a day or two.....

    Here's another shot, from Alison Martino's site:
    [​IMG]
    Capitol's offices shared a building with Wallich's Music City. (Wallich also co-founded/co-owned Capitol.)

    Those were cool days, huh!
     
  24. DLant

    DLant The Upstate Gort Staff

    Location:
    Albany, NY
    I guess I never realized that everything was so scattered prior to the tower.

    I really need to drive to Scranton to see the old pressing plant.
     
  25. carrick doone

    carrick doone Whhhuuuutttt????

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    I love that Dean Martin cover! Look at his reaction shot. Beautiful...and so is she...
    Nice idea for a thread. I always wished that as a child I could have gone to the Captiol building. I think it was from seeing it in movies.
     
    DLant likes this.
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