Sic transit

The Garden Court Apartments, at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard, designed by Frank Meline, opened in 1919 as Hollywood's grandest apartment building. It was home to Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Mac Sennett, and Louis B. Mayer, among others.


The building was demolished in the early 1980s (despite being on the National Register of Histioric Places, no. #82004981) and replaced with the voguishly "high tech" Galaxy Theater complex.

According to this 1982 Time magazine story, there was a valiant attempt to save the building from the wrecker's ball, but as the developer interested in demolishing the building put it: "She was a grand lady, but now she's gone. Someone has to pull the plug."

Here's a graphic look at the building's heydey, degeneration, and humiliation:

1924: Home to stars and czars.

1976: Motor Hotel.

1981: Abandoned haven of junkies and squatters.

The replacement: Hollywood Galaxy complex.

7021 Hollywood Boulevard today.

With 72 suites (with, originally, a grand piano in each one), the Garden Court could have been a plum condo building in the very heart of a revitalized Hollywood.