A Stack of Discs Makes Hollywood the Capitol of Music

 By Helene Labriet-Gross

 

On April 6th, 1956, the world's first circular commercial building was dedicated near the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles, CA. Designed by Welton Becket to be the home of the music label Capitol Records, it still stands today as a well-known symbol of Hollywood, just one mile east of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. A legend says that the building was built to look like a stack of 45 rpm records on a turntable, but this has never been confirmed. The label was created in 1942 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music store owner Glenn Wallichs, and movie producer Buddy DeSylva. On top of the spear that surmounts its thirteen stories, a red blinking light has been spelling out the word "Hollywood" in Morse code since the building was dedicated, to remind one and all that Capitol was the first music label to settle on the West Coast (the other big music companies at that time, Victor, Columbia, and Decca, were all still in New York). The recording studios and the echo chambers buried underground have hosted decades of famous artists, from Frank Sinatra, who inaugurated the studios with sessions for his instrumental album, Tone Poems of Color, to Gorillaz, The Beatles, Coldplay, and Nat King Cole. Next to the building, both John Lennon and Garth Brooks have their Walk of Fame stars. In 2006, Capitol's parent company EMI sold the tower to a real estate company for 50 million dollars, with the promise to keep Capitol Records in its historical location. Suggested Sites... Capitol Records - official site for the label, with pictures of current and past artists -- and of the building. Wikipedia: Welton Becket - biography of the architect behind the Capitol Tower who designed some of L.A.'s most famous buildings. The Hollywood Partnership - the beating heart of Hollywood: the Walk of Fame, the Chinese Theatres -- and, of course, the Capitol Records tower. Capitol Records History - info on Capitol's facilities, technology, and marketing practices. Capitol Studios - technical specs on the building's recording facilities.