Sunset Boulevard

**Sunset Boulevard** is a real-life location in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California which is featured in *the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror*. Sunset Boulevard is also the titular setting for the themed, "Land" Sunset Boulevard in *Disney's Hollywood Studios*. Parts of Sunset Boulevard are also represented in Hollywood Land at Disney California Adventure.

## Description

Sunset Boulevard is a street/neighbourhood in Los Angeles, California, located along Sunset Hills Estates and often identified as being near the Hollywood Hills Sign. The boulevard notable intercepts with Hollywood Boulevard.

### Features

#### Disney Parks

* **Carthay Circle Theatre**: This was a movie-theatre and shopping-service located on Sunset Boulevard, nearby the Theatre of the Stars' entrance.
	+ In real-life, this is located on San Vicente Boulevard and was demolished in 1969.
* **G-Force Records Studio**: G-Force Records is a record-label which was active during the golden age of Hollywood. In the 1990s they struck big with large name musical-artists suck as Aerosmith and a large assortment of state-of-the-art recording technology.
* **Hollywood Hills Amphitheater**: The Hollywood Hills Amphitheatre was a massive external stage located adjacent to Sunset Hills and the Hollywood Tower Hotel. It held nightly spectacular shows and had a stage which included a small mountainside stage with a faux river surrounding it.
* **The Hollywood Tower Hotel**: The Hollywood Tower Hotel was Hollywood's premiere hotel during the golden age of cinema. This was until the October 31 of 1939 when the hotel was struck by a bolt of paranormal lightning originating from the 5th Dimension. Five people died during the incident which demolished the hotel's elevator shafts and left it as a haunted locale, causing less business in that area of Sunset Boulevard.
* **Hyperion Theater**: The Hyperion Theatre is a theatre venue located at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard.
* **Rosie's All-American Cafe**: Rosie's All-American Cafe is a Americana café, seemingly named for the American wartime propaganda character of, "Rosie the Riveter". The cafe was decorated with WW2 paraphernalia, including, "Rosie’s Victory Garden" where the café grew vegetables, protected by a scarecrow made from a WW2 uniform and gas-mask.
* **Starring Rolls Cafe**:
* **Sunset Hills Estates**: Sunset Hills Estates was a piece of property at the head of Sunset Boulevard which was founded in 1928.
* **Sunset Ranch Market**:
* **Sunset Showcase**:
* **Theatre of the Stars**: The Theatre of the Stars was an outdoors proscenium-arch theatre with a small thrust stage which held shows during the 1990s.

## History

### Origins

Hollywood was a small community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It officially merged with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, and soon thereafter a prominent film industry began to emerge, eventually becoming the most recognizable film industry in the world. In 1917 (1929 in the closed-down Disney California Adventure version), the *Hollywood Tower Hotel* was constructed. In 1928, the grounds which the hotel were situated on was turned into, "Sunset Hills Estates", presumably holding the residencies of many other Hollywood big-names.

### Golden Age

Hollywood was central to a, "Golden Age" of filmmaking, particularly in the 1930s. Amidst the glitz and the glamour of the Hollywood elite, the Hollywood Tower Hotel was considered to be a star in its own right. The hotel's operations were also quite close with their next-door neighbours *G-Force Records* and the two often intertwined their business. Of the hotel's offerings were the, "Tip Top Club", a grandiose gentleman's club located on the hotel's 13th floor.

The Hollywood Tower Hotel would mysteriously come to bare paranormal phenomena. The first known example of this occurred the July 15 of 1931 when a wealthy Hollywood family known as the Hermans boarded an elevator heading for the Tip Top Club. Due to an elevator malfunction, the Hermans crashed and were presumed dead although no corpses were ever recovered from the rubble. This event was covered by the world's first international newspaper *First International News,* leading many to believe that this would mark the end of the hotel's proud career. Despite this incident, the Hollywood Tower Hotel managed to repair the elevators and reclaimed its star status.

In 1937, the Carthay Circle Theatre debuted the first released feature-length animated film, *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*. Attending the premiere were Walt Disney and Shirley Temple.

The Hollywood Tower Hotel's Tip Top Club also hosted various performers including Anthony Fremont & his Orchestra, Velma Woodrow, Lawrence Jones, and the Silver Lake Sisters. In 1939, the *American Automobile Association* awarded the hotel the, "Thirteen Diamond Award", making the Hollywood Tower Hotel the only known hotel to have achieved this status.

Also in 1939, the hotel arranged for a large Halloween party to be thrown on October 31 with a top-tier guest-list. On the 31, the hotel's elevators were inspected by one Cadwallader, a man of apparent supernatural connections. That night, four guests by the names of Gilbert London, Carolyn Crosson, Sally Shine and Emeline Partridge boarded one of the elevators in the lobby with a bellhop named Dewey Todd. At 8:05, the hotel's elevator shafts were struck by paranormal lightning originating from the 5th Dimension once again plunging the elevators and their passengers down. The lightning caused the wings holding the elevator shafts to vanish leaving a black scorch mark across the side of the hotel while those five who were inside became ghosts bound to the hotel.

The night of the incident, the Hollywood Tower Hotel was closed down and left seemingly frozen in time while in a state of decay. It is unknown what became of the other guests of the hotel however it is known that an executive from G-Force Records managed to escape the Tip Top Club under mysterious circumstances. In the Buena Vista Bugle, it was reported that investigations of the missing persons were headed by Officer Calvin Blue of the LAPD, who believed the missing persons would show up and that he would reward them for their experiences. Needless to say, Officer Blue was incorrect in his assessment.

The hotel turned from being a place of pride to being a tower of terror which made many wary of entering its area of Sunset Boulevard, resulting in weakened business for the neighbourhood. All the while, the hotel continued to be haunted by its five victims while further being absorbed into the 5th Dimension and becoming a sort of portal to the realm. Following the disaster at the Hollywood Tower Hotel which cost the lives of five people, many were wary of the part of Sunset Boulevard which the hotel and G-Force records were located at, taking a toll on G-Force's business.

#### Later history

Over the years, several ghost-sightings and strange reports came from the Hollywood Tower Hotel. On one anniversary of the 1939 Halloween, the hotel was investigated by ghost-hunters or, "Spectrologists" on a night when meteorologists predicted higher air-pressures, likely foreshadowing another storm. The outcome of these events are unknown.

In 1947, the mayor of Los Angeles and, "Mayor of Hollywood" was one Sonny Burbank. Various somewhat notable citizens of Hollywood were active during this year, often seen interacting and holding competitions with visitors of the neighbourhood. On the Sunday, July 17th of an unknown year (possibly occurring in Hollywood's golden age), Hollywood's Theatre of the Stars hosted the premiere of a *Jungle Cruise* movie made by Walt Disney Productions in connection with the *Jungle Navigation Company* and which had JNC members "Skipper Lasseter", "Skipper Brennan" and, "Trader Sam" on its cast.

In 1979, G-Force was connected to the release of Walt Disney Productions', "Mickey Mouse Disco", a late disco entry revolving around Mickey Mouse. This record only sold about twenty-three copies, which was notable enough for G-Force at the time that they awarded Mickey with a framed vinyl and plaque of the track identified as "*MMC* (likely *Mickey Mouse Club*) *Certified Pyrite* (Fool's Gold) *Sales*".

#### 1990s

After 56 years of the closure, the Hollywood Tower Hotel mysteriously reopened in the July of 1994. The reopening of the hotel seemingly correlated with a sudden spike in success from G-Force Records who had recently managed to score big-name deals with names such as Aerosmith*,* Z Ward and music divisions of the Walt Disney Company. After one recording session at G-Force Records, Aerosmith performed for one night only at  *The Forum*. Before leaving, they invited various guests to attend and called for Super-Stretch Limos from the company  *Lock 'n' Roll Limos* to pick the guests up and speed through the streets of Los Angeles to make it for the concert.

At this point the hotel was staffed by a crew of unnatural if not outright malevolent bellhops who seemed frozen in the 1930s and wished to bring new guests into the 5th Dimension. The bellhops would go about this by utilizing the maintenance service-elevators in the boiler room of the hotel rather than the decommissioned elevators in the lobby. On at least one incident, a group of would-be-victims were encountered by a being from the 5th Dimension known as, "The Narrator" who informed them of the hotel's past and nature allowing at least some of them to escape a dark fate.

## Appearances

### Disney California Adventure

#### Buena Vista Street

*Citizens of Hollywood* character Officer Percival Peabody's mailbox is on Buena Vista Street. Both Sunset Boulevard and Buena Vista Street also make frequent reference to the Red Car Trolley of the Pacific Electric Railway. A flier at *Atwater Ink & Paint* mentions a performance of *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* being held in the Hyperion Theatre, performed by the *Flower Street Players*.

#### Hollywood Land

This area has portions themed to Sunset Boulevard, and used to have the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

### Disney's Hollywood Studios

#### Citizens of Hollywood

These characters are often found on Sunset Boulevard. The character of Dorma Nesmond is named for Norma Desmond from the film *Sunset Boulevard* (1950).

#### Sunset Boulevard

This area is named and themed for Sunset Boulevard.

### Other connections

#### Avengers

Benches advertising She-Hulk as a lawyer have appeared on the Sunset Boulevard section of Hollywood Land.

#### Paradise Pier

Sunset Boulevard has a tribute to Disney's California Adventure via a poster for *Paradise Pier*, the fictional amusement park which was the namesake for the area of the park preceding Pixar Pier.

#### Jungle Cruise

The fictional Disney film, "The Jungle Cruise" was mentioned as debuting in the Theatre of the Stars. Notably Jungle Cruise characters credited include Trader Sam, the Jungle Navigation Company, Skipper John, and Professor Harper Goff.

## Trivia

* Due to their proximity on *Sunset Boulevard*, *the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror*, *Rock 'n' Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith* and *Fantasmic!* are frequently lined up with one another in promotional-materials and merchandise.
* Sunset Boulevard is also the name of a famous 1950 American film by director Billy Wilder. This film is referenced on Hollywood Studios via the, "Citizens of Hollywood" character Dorma Nesmond whose name and personality is a pastiche of Norma Desmond from the film.
* Sunset Boulevard is referenced as a stop of the Red Car Trolleys in the 1989 film *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* which influenced much of Disney's Hollywood Studios. Sunset Boulevard was originally planned to connect to attractions based on Who Framed Roger Rabbit known as *Roger Rabbit's Hollywood*.

## Gallery

G-Force Records' music studioThe Hollywood Hills AmphitheaterCarthay Circle/the shop *Once Upon a Time*The Theatre of the StarsA billboard for Paradise PierMaleficent in the Hollywood Hills AmphitheaterLondon and Crosson's luggage (turquoise) on Sunset Boulevard
## References

1. ↑ https://wdwthemeparks.com/attraction/rock-n-roller-coaster-starring-aerosmith/
2. ↑ https://mickeyblog.com/2018/12/10/behind-curtain-fantasmic-hollywood-studios/
3. ↑ https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20190402/36801/3-bizarre-secrets-about-history-disney-s-hollywood-studios?page=2
4. ↑ https://allears.net/2010/02/04/twilight-zone-tower-of-terror-part-one/
5. ↑ https://allears.net/2020/08/04/a-new-show-has-debuted-at-the-theater-of-the-stars-in-disneys-hollywood-studios/
6. ↑ https://duchessofdisneyland.com/california-adventure/buena-vista-street-mailboxes/
7. ↑ https://duchessofdisneyland.com/california-adventure/atwater-ink-and-paint-art-supply-bulletin-board/
8. ↑ https://blogmickey.com/2017/10/photo-paradise-pier-billboard-appears-sunset-boulevard/
9. ↑ https://www.mousesteps.com/2013/09/27/new-minnie-mouse-meet-greet-at-disney-s-hollywood-studios-exudes-old-world-glamour-detailed-queue-a-delight-for-disney-fans/
10. ↑ https://themouselets.com/disneys-citizens-of-hollywood-names-and-description