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A Night Out with the Kings

The mighty Pantages, last of Alexander P’s palaces, 1930 meisterwerk of prolific theater designer and irrepressible Scotsman B. Marcus Priteca. The Pantages was one of the Fox chain til Hughes picked her up in ’49. Here she is in 1952 (note Hughes’ RKO logo affixed atop the blade):

And today:

Over 40% of this baby was devoted to public spaces, lounges, lobbies-plenty of good Saturday night kid-smackin’ room. I mean, look at it. Who wouldn’t want to be scarred for life in such opulent surroundings?

As for the King residence on Whitley, where we can only assume more terrors were bestowed liberally –

They had an apartment in Leland “Sunset Tower” Bryant’s 1928 Fontenoy building. Note, if you will, the angelic, cherubic child above the entry. The child whose peaceful countenance mocked Sheppard, father of screaming tot.

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