Baine Building

From Towrs

Overview

This is a building that tells a tale of two eras of Hollywood history: the glamor days of yesteryear, and the seedy needy times that followed.

The Baine Building almost looks like it's been through a flood. At the top of the building sports a well-preserved Spanish revival style facade complete with ornamental balconies, cornices, and stucco the color of a golden California sunset. The basket-handle arches above the doorways on the upper story hold French doors, perfect for throwing open to catch a lazy afternoon breeze.

Down below it looks like the building has been swamped by modern times. There is little ornamentation, and what once was a bank is now filled with retail stores. Still, the whitewashed arches survive along with the big entrance carved out of a prominent corner. It's possible to look ahead and see today, then look up and see the past. Especially if you look at the penthouse.

The building's penthouse was the private domain of Colonel Harry Baine, for whom the building was first named. He was an entrepreneur who served a year as Los Angeles County supervisor. It was he who commissioned the building and gained fame for bragging that he was the first person on Hollywood Boulevard to live in a penthouse. If the appellation "colonel" and his braggadocio didn't tip you off, Baine did indeed come to California from Texas.

He brought with him a penchant for big ideas. In order to boost retail sales, he proposed renaming Hollywood Boulevard "Santa Claus Lane," going so far as to hire put a couple of reindeer and a sleigh on wheels and roll them down the boulevard with celebrities on board. He got his wish in 1929 when Hollywood Boulevard was given the honorary title he promoted. As more and more merchants got on board with the idea, their seasonal decorations became more elaborate. And the event that he started is now known as the Hollywood Christmas Parade.