5555 Melrose Ave.
Turn right when you leave Hollywood Forever (or just keep going on Santa Monica if you don't stop in). A little way down the street, you'll notice Bronson Avenue dead-ends into a strip mall that's right behind the cemetery. Turn right on Van Ness Avenue.
On this street, you can't help but notice a large, exuberantly-decorated, dark-pink-colored building with the words "Alexander Ruler of the World" emblazoned over the entry. It was built by Paramount in 1927 to house actors, or so the story goes. In 1992, a colorful Greek immigrant named George Pan-Andreas bought it, hiring artist Danny Doxton in 2007 to paint it as a tribute to Alexander the Great. After that, we wonder if it just took on a life of its own, now covered with all kinds of Greek-inspired decorations, mixed with paintings of Rudolph Valentino, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. The LA Times has the whole story.
When you've stopped gawking, chortling and photographing, continue and turn right again onto Melrose. Paramount is on the right. Where Bronson Avenue starts up again on the left, look right and you'll see the original studio gate and fountain.
Paramount is the only studio still operating in Hollywood proper, and it has a long and interesting history. Cecil B. DeMille and Jesse Lasky made their first film The Squaw Man in an old horse barn near Sunset and Vine (which has now been moved to Highland Avenue and is the home of the Hollywood Heritage Museum). In 1916, they merged their company with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company and gained controlling interest in Paramount Pictures Corporation, a film distribution company.
Casual visitors are not allowed inside the studios, but that doesn't mean you can't visit this Hollywood landmark. In fact, you can take a guided tour if you have reservations and many Hollywood visitors say doing it was the highlight of their trip. Find out all about it in the Paramount Studio Tour Guide.
If you want to see a television program being filmed at Paramount, don't contact them directly. Instead, use this guide to find out how be in a studio audience in Los Angeles.
