HOLLYWOOD

 
Standing like a signal fire for the whole world to see
50 foot letters ignite HOLLYWOOD from the top of Mt. Lee
Into the concrete valley of the shadow of Dracula
All roads lead to it like a magnet
>From places like Kansas, Wisconsin or Michigan
Where a nice kid leaves all she knows and loves with a head full of hopes and dreams and limps home with a heart full of despair and newly compromised values
There is an electricity that hovers over this magnetic movie Mecca phasod
An air of excitement on the cusp of "The Next Big Thing"
But down on the street itself boils a tension of impending, imploding disaster
No one knows this better or has seen it happen more times than the Sunset Strip or Hollywood Boulevard
Stretched out like old, used up whores
Streets that have seen better, more glamorous days
Gone are the corner drugstores where wannabe starlets of yesteryear sat down to have a soda or ice cream hoping to be "discovered"
Replaced by tacky souvenir shops where disappointed tourists buy snow globes in August
Gone are the streets lined with pepper trees and oil derricks
Replaced by tattoo shops where homeless punk rock kids bum for change to get something to eat or score more dope
Where transvestite prostitutes wait for dates
Where the hippest rock clubs in the world breed the wannabe rock stars of tomorrow that make great, cutting edge music that we love today, but deny that we ever did tomorrow
Replaced by ultra trendy restaurants where the food probably sucks, but I'll never know because I can't afford to eat there because Demi and Ashton eat there and the paparazzi hide in the bushes next door making tens of thousands of dollars snapping blurry photos of them being "normal" - God Forbid!
Where the same said celebrities hold a press conference to dictate their political and social agendas to a world that they think is hanging on their every word
Waiting to be told what is cool or what to like next or to show us how they paid their way out of murder
Where the Walk of Fame literally glitters day or night, even through the layer of filth and the stink of urine left there by bums ( not to be confused with ("Homeless Citizens")
For a nominal donation, you can have your picture taken with a Batman, a Spiderman, a Willy Wonka or various other street performers in front of the Mann's Chinese Theater, which is beautiful and dreamy, but as out of place as a Wal-mart in China
Silent movie stars sleep forever in the Hollywood Forever cemetery as silent as the movies they once starred in
Waiting patiently for company and reminding us that no matter how rich or famous we are in life, you can't take it with you and we all end up in the same place when the movie ends
There is not a new Hollywood or an old Hollywood
There's just Hollywood
Where everything I just said is wrong and so like, 2 minutes ago
But God help me, how I love it

by Dennis Bagwell

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