I was going south on Highland, stopped six or so cars behind the light on Hollywood, when I took this picture yesterday afternoon. 

You can't see it, because it's just out of the frame on the left, but if you were to face north and go past that bar, you would an empty storefront that still has a crumbling sign and vague paint outline in the window that once identified it as a record store. I don't know what that giant construction project behind it is, but I suspect it'll be a hotel. Cross the street, and you're in a strip mall, where I saw a transvestite prostitute walking out of a 7-11, whacking a box of Marlboro Lights against the palm of one hand.

It's not a particularly special or unique scene; you could find something like this in any big American city, but I was inspired to take this picture by what you can't see. If you were behind the camera and looked over your right shoulder, all you would be able to see is the giant Hollywood and Highland complex, home of the Kodak theater.

Isn't that weird? Just a few hundred yards is all that separates this decidedly unglamorous, mundane urban scene from the home of the Academy Awards and American Idol. 

…not every facade in Hollywood is built on a studio backlot.