Once Upon A Time In Hollywood's Replica Buildings

With the July 26, 2019 opening of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, I was looking forward to the film's recreation of 1969 Los Angeles and Hollywood. Hopeful that the motion picture's imaginative director would recall some interesting visual architecture from the period, I was not disappointed.

From there, it was a short leap for me to wonder if any of the filming locations might exist as replicas within the world of souvenir building collectors (of whom I am one). 

Thus far, I have found only three direct examples. Perhaps you can tell me of others?

Let's take a look at what replicas exist and where the souvenir building gaps may be filled in the future.

Cinerama

Quentin Tarantino utilizes a nighttime view of the classic Cinerama in one scene when the Leonardo DiCarpo and Brad Pitt characters drive by as the premiere of Krakatoa, East of Java is taking place.

Quentin Tarantino's recreated Cinerama (for 1969)

I was able to obtain InFocusTech's visually attractive replica, with founder Mike Merwine putting blue stain on the dome for me to replicate the version seen in the film.

InFocusTech's Cinerama (with blue stain on the dome)

The design of Hollywood's domed Cinerama was based on the geodesic dome developed by R. Buckminster Fuller. The design was proposed by French architect Pierre Cabrol, lead designer in the noted architectural firm of Welton Becket and Associates. Pierre Cabrol worked with R. Buckminster Fuller during his studies at the M.I.T..

[In a sync of some significance to me, since, for starters, I share Fuller's birthday with him, I happened to have been at Southern Illinois University at the same time Fuller was a professor there. On April 4, 2013, I gave the keynote address ('“Bucky Fuller: Fortean, Falling Frogs, and Frank Lloyd Wright”) at the First Fuller Future Festival in Carbondale, Illinois.]

ArcLight owns the theater now, and they have this to say about "The Dome": 

Built (in only 16 weeks!) in 1963, Pacific Theatres' Cinerama Dome opened with the "single-strip Cinerama" production of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. The Dome, the first and only theater of its kind in the world, has been host to over 50 years of premieres and blockbusters.

Still under the ownership of Pacific Theatres, the Dome was carefully refurbished and refreshed, reopening as part of ArcLight Hollywood in March 2002. The signature marquee and portico on Sunset Boulevard and the 316 hexagons in the geodesic dome were restored to their original dramatic presence. The Dome still seats more than 800 guests per showing and has maintained the historic loge seating - a favorite of moviegoers over the years.

The Cinerama at 6360 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California, had a gala sneak preview showing of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, with two advance 70mm screenings as part of a three-day Quentin Tarantino tribute over the July 19-21, 2019 weekend.

InFocusTech's Cinerama (without stain)

Cinerama (1969 ~> 2019)

Capitol Records Tower

Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, which he has said is a love letter to LA of 1969, appears to have a deep affection for the Capitol Records building, specifically. It is seen in publicity shoots for the movie, in a poster, and via fleeting glimpses, now and then in the film. It is iconic. It is Hollywood.

As noted,

The Capitol Records Building, also known as the Capitol Records Tower, is a 13-story tower building in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Designed by Louis Naidorf of Welton Becket Associates, it is one of the city's landmarks. Construction began soon after British company EMI acquired Capitol Records in 1955, and was completed in April 1956. Located just north of the Hollywood and Vine intersection. Source.

Quentin Tarantino's "recreated" the Capitol Records Tower (1969). Due to the clutter of modern buildings, Tarantino had them digitally removed.

Capitol Records Tower (2015 ~> 1969)

Capitol Records Tower (1969 <~ 2019) 

Several souvenir building replicas of the Capitol Records Tower have been made, down through the years.

Capitol Records (Anton Tremblay's Microcosms, 1990s)

Adam Ward's Capitol Records Tower (Unofficial LEGO Architecture/ Capitol Goods 2018)

Capitol Records Building (Mike Merwine's InFocusTech, 2017)

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Grauman's Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, and was completed in 1926. This building was designed by Meyer and Holler Architects. Grauman's is located along Hollywood's Walk of Fame and it is still used for many movie premiers as well as celebrity parties.

Tarantino's movie shows the theater in passing, during a drive-by (or at least the parking lot). But it was important in 1969 and 2019, to the movies.  Once Upon A Time In Hollywood had it's premiere release screening at Grauman's Chinese Theatre (nowadays called the TCL Chinese Theatres).

Mike Merwine has a replica available to the craft.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre (InFocusTech)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood's Official Film Locations

The rest of the film locations for Tarantino's 9th film, as far as I have been able to discover, do not exist in official replica form. Yet.

Corriganville Park (standing in for The Spahn Ranch)

The Spahn Ranch

12000 Santa Susana Pass Road, Chatsworth

Casa Vega

13301 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks

Cameron Nature Preserve (stand in for The FBI television series at Puerco Canyon)

3501 Puerco Canyon Rd., Malibu

The Bruin & Village Theatres

948 Broxton Ave., Los Angeles

Playboy Mansion

10236 Charing Cross Road, Los Angeles

Paramount Drive-In (stand-in for the Van Nuys Drive-In which has been torn down)

7770 Rosecrans Ave., Paramount

El Coyote

7312 Beverly Blvd., Fairfax, Los Angeles

Musso & Frank's Grill

6667 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles

Vogue Theatre

6675 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles opened in July 1935 next door to Musso & Frank Grill.

Cicada Restaurant

617 S Olive St., downtown Los Angeles

Chili John's

2018 W Burbank Blvd., Burbank

Jackalope Pottery

10726 Burbank Blvd, Burbank

Super A Foods

2925 Division St., Glassell Park

Melody Ranch

24715 Oak Creek, Newhall

Vine Theater

6321 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles

Pussycat

Supply Sergeant - Peaches Records & Tapes

6664 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood

Aquarius Theater

Sunset Blvd, Hollywood

Taco Bell

Here is a quick overview of some of the OUATIH sites mentioned above, as mapped out by Fandango, based on insights from Rick Schuler, a veteran location manager:

Manson Family Murder sites

10050 Cielo Drive ~ August 9, 1969.

Demolished and rebuilt, and renumbered as 10066 Cielo Drive.

3301 Waverly Drive ~ August 10, 1969.

Redesigned and renumbered as 3311 Waverly Drive.

Sources: LA 1, 2, 3, 4. SB 1, 2.

August 18th Syncs Lolita, Kubrick, and Manson

And it ends up with Dennis Wilson and Charles Manson?

August 18, 1958 – Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita is published in the USA. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze (nicknamed "Lolita"), with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather.

August 18, 1933 - Roman Polanski is born. In 1977, Polanski was arrested and charged with sexual abuse offenses against a 13-year-old girl. He fled to the U.K. and then to France. See here.

August 18, 1934 – Vincent Bugliosi, American lawyer & author of Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (1974) is born.

August 18, 1920 – Shelley Winters, American actress, is born. Played the mother in Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita (1962).

Stanley Kubrick's film is deliberately vague over Lolita's age. Kubrick commented, "I think that some people had the mental picture of a nine-year-old, but Lolita was twelve and a half in the book; Sue Lyon was thirteen." Actually, Lyon was 14 by the time filming started and 15 when it finished.

August 18, 1952 – Patrick Swayze, American actor, is born. Plays a pedophile in Donnie Darko (2001).


‪Aug 18, 2012 - Scott McKenzie, 73, dies. He was well-known for the 1967 hit San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) written by his friend John Philips.

Scott McKenzie is shown in the middle.

Always a friend of the group's members, in 1986, Scott McKenzie formally joined The Mamas and The Papas. In 1987, he wrote with Terry Melcher, Mike Love, and John Philips, the hit song "Kokomo" for the Beach Boys. McKenzie-Philips-Love-Melcher and Dennis Wilson all have 1968-1969 links to Charles Manson (who had a cult-like hold over underage girls).

As factually shown in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Manson's Family members were drawn to Melcher's former house (then rented to Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski). And the murderers were targeting the Beach Boys and Melcher, if they could find them.

August 18, 2017 ~ Elizabeth Mary MacKean (b. November 30, 1964) was a British television reporter and presenter who died of a stroke on August 18, 2017 at age 52. She worked on the BBC's Newsnight programme and was the reporter on an exposé of Sir Jimmy Savile as a paedophile which was controversially cancelled by the BBC in December 2011.  (Credit Thanassis Vembos)

Epstein's Enigmatic Temple

Update

On the same day Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on arrival at a New Jersey airport on sex trafficking charges, federal agents bashed in the door of his $77 million Manhattan mansion and seized evidence to aid in his prosecution. But the multimillionaire’s Virgin Islands hideaway, where the wealthy hedge fund manager allegedly trafficked girls for sex and entertained politicians, businessmen and scientists, seemingly remained untouched by the law.

That changed on Monday, August 12, 2019.

FBI agents — accompanied by Customs personnel, local police and New York City officers, according to a Virgin Islands source — fanned out in golf carts across Epstein’s estate on Little St. James Island. They scooped up evidence just two days after Epstein was found dead in his jail cell of an apparent suicide while in federal custody in Manhattan.

***

There will be many mysteries to discuss for conspiracy theorists, political pundits, and alternative media journalists in the coming weeks in the wake of the 8/10/2019 death of Jeffrey Epstein. But one riddle that stands out is the twilight meaning to be found in Epstein's enigmatic "temple."

One item Epstein left behind that defies explanation, thus far, is his mysterious blue-striped temple. Those who have investigated the structure found that while it previously featured a gold dome, it flew off in 2017 when the hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the region.

The blue-striped structure sits on a lookout point on the southeastern edge of Little St. James Island, which Epstein purchased in 1998 for $7.95 million. The building is surrounded by an expansive terrace painted bright white with red shapes. 

The base is painted with broad, vivid blue horizontal stripes, and supports a large, golden dome. The entrance consists of an arched, seemingly wooden door equipped with black metal hardware. The sides appear to be cut with large windows, including a full-length one in the rear. The front is flanked by statues painted in gold; one of them appears to be the trident-wielding Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, while two others look like birds perched on the corners of the roof. It is surrounded by a line of palm trees and a terrace with a labyrinth motif. Finally, the exterior seems to incorporate an optical illusion, to create the impression that the exterior windows and door are set within carved flanges. Source.

Rumors abound that it is a gym, a piano room, or a sex slave hideaway.

People have attempted to figure out what the overall reason for the "temple structure" is. Since Epstein was Jewish, that may have been a clue. But it is unlike any Jewish temple.

In many ways, the "domed temple" was like a mosque, similar to the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the City of Jerusalem. The cubic base and dome seem to refer this to Islamic architecture, but figures holding tridents, appearing to be Poseidon would be a form that is strange for a mosque.

Tridents raised by Poseidon-like figures.

Domes are found worldwide, of course. In the new film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, a scene includes the famed Cinerama dome, designed by Pierre Cabrol and R. Buckminster Fuller, where the dome appears blue at night.

Editor Andrew W. Griffin alerted me to a similar looking geodesic dome, formerly a bank, in Oklahoma City, entitled the Gold Dome.

Neither of these domes-as-buildings are anything like Epstein's temple.

Research by online theorists have found that the Little St. James Island's structure compares favorably with the bath houses found in Aleppo, Syria, which are painted like mosques.

An Allepo mosque - or is it another bath house?

Footage was obtained of the use of underaged females (not shown below) in these bath houses.

The exterior painting is mirrored inside.

The Epstein "Temple" has become a meme.

The residents of the Unites States Virgin Islands have their own names for Epstein's island ~ "Pedofile Island," "Island of Sin," and "Orgy Island." Epstein himself use to call it "St. Jeff's Island." He also purchased the nearby Great St. James Island in 2016 for $18 million, located off the east end of St. Thomas.

His death extends his mysterious legacy.

###

Additional information from PDXWiz:

St. James links to

1) The Saint James Church Massacre, in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1993. 11 people were killed, including 4 Russian sailors visiting as part of a church outreach program. One of the gunman later participated in two robberies of cash vans (like armored trucks with money), while an armed parishioner who fired back and wounded a gunman became involved in the anti-gun control movement.

Notice the 11.

2) St. James Day Battle, August 4th and 5th, *1666*, between English and Dutch forces. Simultaneously happening were the Great Fire and Great Plague of London. (Notice the Number of the Beast in the year.) One of the Dutch Admirals, Cornelis Tromp, was involved in politics later as a supporter of the House of Orange. (You'll notice the similarity of Donald Trump and references to his hair and looks as being orange.) Accusations of negligence followed; his brother-in-law planned a coup but fled the country. A supporter tried to stab a political rival of Tromp's, and another rival was later killed; Tromp was said to be involved.

###

General background. 

Jeffrey Edward Epstein was born on January 20, 1953, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, to Jewish parents Pauline (née Stolofsky, 1918–2004) and Seymour G. Epstein (1916–1991). His parents were married in 1952, shortly before his birth. Pauline worked as a school aide and was a homemaker. Seymour Epstein worked for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation as a groundskeeper and gardener. Jeffrey Epstein was the older of two siblings. Epstein and his brother Mark grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Sea Gate, Coney Island, Brooklyn.

We have been here before. Often. What happens when a well-connected person dies by suicide?

Former porn star Jenna Jameson took to Twitter on July 16, 2018, following the posthumous publication of an interview with Parts Unknown host Anthony Bourdain in which Bourdain sharply criticized the Clintons. In her tweet, Jameson suggested that Bourdain’s criticism might have led to him being “suicided.” Source.

Fayette Factor?
Epstein attended local public schools, first Public School 188 and then Mark Twain Junior High School nearby. In 1967, Epstein attended the National Music Camp at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. He was a talented musician who learned to play the piano when he was five. He graduated in 1969 from Lafayette High School at age 16 having skipped two grades. Later that year, he attended classes at Cooper Union until he changed colleges in 1971. From September 1971, he attended the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, but left without receiving a degree in June 1974.

Intriguing we should find the Fayette Factor in Epstein's story.

Dalton Connection?
Epstein started working after the summer of 1974 as a physics and mathematics teacher at the Dalton School in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Epstein taught at the exclusive private school from the fall of 1974 until he was dismissed in June 1976. While teaching at the school, Epstein became acquainted with Alan Greenberg, the chief executive officer of Bear Stearns, whose son and daughter were going to the school. Greenberg's daughter, Lynne Koeppel, pointed to a parent teacher conference where Epstein influenced another Dalton parent into advocating for him to Greenberg. Greenberg, impressed with Epstein's intelligence and drive for financial success, offered him a job at Bear Stearns.

Then we turn around, and the Dalton name (= "living in the valley") springs up in Epstein's narrative too.

Intelligence Agent?
Epstein stated to some people [in the early 1980s] that he was an intelligence agent. Whether this statement was truthful or in jest is not clear. During the 1980s, Epstein possessed an Austrian passport that had his photo but a false name. The passport showed his place of residence in Saudi Arabia. U.S. Florida District Attorney Alexander Acosta who handled Epstein's criminal case in 2008 stated that he had been told that Epstein "belonged to intelligence", was "above his pay grade" and to "leave it alone".
During this period, one of Epstein's clients was the Saudi Arabian businessman Adnan Khashoggi, who was the middleman in transferring American weapons from Israel to Iran, as part of the Iran-Contra Affair in the 1980s. Khashoggi was one of several defense contractors that he knew. In the mid-1980s, Epstein traveled multiple times between the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. While in London, Epstein met Steven Hoffenberg. They had been introduced through Douglas Leese, a defense contractor, and John Mitchell, the former US Attorney General.

Are we surprised that some people are seriously speculating that Epstein is still alive and his body has been spirited away to a Mideastern country? By Mossad?

Suicide?
Epstein died of an apparent suicide by hanging on August 10, 2019, while imprisoned at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. Prison officials found his body in his cell at 6:30 a.m. Three weeks previously he had been found unconscious in his jail cell with injuries to his neck. After that incident, he was placed on suicide watch. However, he was not on suicide watch at the time of his death, leading some prison experts to express bafflement and shock that he would be taken off suicide watch at such a time. U.S Attorney General William Barr ordered an investigation by the Department of Justice Inspector General in addition to the FBI investigation, saying he was "appalled" by Epstein's death in federal custody. Epstein was 66 years old.

More questions than answers = a storm of conspiracy theories. 

Stabbing Spree

A man who was “full of anger” stabbed, slashed and robbed his way across two Southern California cities in a bloody rampage that killed four people and wounded two others who were allegedly targeted at random.

All victims are Latino 

33-year-old suspect is Latino

Locations of Garden Grove (GG) stabbings:

Subway sandwich shop

7-Eleven (7/11)

Chevron station

Apartment building (in 12100 block of Jentges Avenue in Garden Grove) 

A separate, non-related stabbing happened in a Garden Grove apartment complex named "Flower Tree," killing Vivian Wolff, 62. Her son, Jonathan Michael Warner, 28, is considered a "person of interest."

If it isn’t obvious ~> ‪Chevron = 

V-symbol meaning to connect Heaven (Cielo) and Earth‬ ~>

‪Manson Family killings = Tate 1969

"Gilroy Garlic, and 1977 blackout, among other things. Orange is itself a pregnant sync." ~ Anita Ladaprarez

"Orange - 33." ~ Eric Dilley.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood's Manson Family's Bowling Sisters

Parker Love and Kansas Bowling play two of the Manson Family in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

Parker Love Bowling (at right) plays Family member "Tadpole" (at left). Tadpole was not involved in the murders charged to the various members in 1969.

Kansas Bowling played Sandra "Blue" Good, who was a Manson Family member who was convicted for mailing threatening letters. She was paroled but maintained her loyalty to Manson; she still does to this day. Bowling is an up-and-coming director, writer, and actress, having helmed her first film, B.C. Butcher, in 2016.

Sandra Collins Good (born February 20, 1944) is a long-time member of the Manson Family and a close friend of Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme. Good's Manson Family nickname is "Blue," which was given to her by Charles Manson to represent clean air and water.

Parker Love Bowling (see IMDb here) and Kansas Bowling (here) are well-known avant garde actors, producers, and directors. Kansas was born on August 2, 1996, in Beverly Hills, California.