PACIFIC JAZZ LOCATIONS
© James A. Harrod, COPYRIGHT
PROTECTED; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Frequent visitors to this blog will have noticed a variety
of addresses for Pacific Jazz / World Pacific on the backs of the EP covers and
catalogues. The first location was at 6124 Santa Monica Boulevard above the
retail space for Roy Harte’s and Remo Belli’s DRUM CITY. The space was an apartment that Roy and
Dick converted to offices. Dotty
Woodward was in the front “living room” area that looked out on to Santa Monica
Boulevard. Charlie Emge occupied
one of the bedrooms where the west coast office of Down Beat was located after
Charlie relocated to 6124 from his former address at 6110 Santa Monica
Boulevard. Other rooms held the offices for Linear Publications and Nocturne
Records. The building has changed
little since DRUM CITY and Pacific Jazz were located there. The exterior entrance to the apartment
upstairs seen at the far right in the photo below framed by tile work can still
be seen in the contemporary photo from the mid 1990s.
(6124 Santa Monica Boulevard)
(6124 Santa Monica Boulevard)
The Red Car line on Santa Monica Boulevard (circa 1954)
The city of Los Angeles began removing the street car rail
tracks that ran down the middle of Santa Monica Boulevard in the spring of
1955. The noise created by the
construction made it impossible for Dotty to hold a conversation on the
telephone and conduct the other business of the label. Dotty persuaded Dick to find another
location for the Pacific Jazz offices and Pacific Jazz relocated to 7614
Melrose Avenue later that summer.
The physical building at that location remains the same as well from this
contemporary photo taken in the mid 1990s.
(7614 Melrose Avenue)
Although the total square footage at 7614 Melrose Avenue was
greater than the living room space above DRUM CITY it quickly proved to be too
small for the label that was growing with the surge of interest in modern jazz
that the industry was experiencing in the mid 1950s.
Pacific Jazz, now World Pacific Enterprises, moved for a
third time to larger offices in a building at 8255 Sunset Boulevard. They occupied one half of the building
with the other half occupied by American International Pictures. The building still stands at this
location as seen in the contemporary photo from the late 1990s.
(8255 Sunset Boulevard)
Dick Bock had recorded at just about every private recording
studio in Hollywood and at theaters like the Forum and the Music Box. He had always hoped that eventually he
would be able to locate a building that could accommodate setting up the ideal
recording studio space plus additional rooms for offices and storage.
He found that building at 3rd and Robertson and moved in the early 1960s to 8715 West Third Street, the former headquarters of Andex Records, Rex Productions. The location has changed little since
then and is now occupied by Archangel Recording Studios.
(Dick Bock & Ravi Shankar at 8715 West Third Street)
(8715 West Third Street today)
The last address for World Pacific after being acquired by
Liberty Records and later United Artists was at 6920 Sunset Boulevard across
the street from Hollywood High School.
The building shown in the photo below from the late 1990s has since been
demolished to make way for a new retail center that now occupies the entire
block.
(6920 Sunset Boulevard)
© James A. Harrod, COPYRIGHT PROTECTED; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
