Shopping Babylon: View of Hollywood Sign (Gone)
Los Angeles, California
The Hollywood and Highland Shopping Center opened in late 2001. A grand stairway leads from Hollywood Boulevard up to an outdoor "Babylon Court" -- a replica of the iconic Babylon set from the 1916 D.W. Griffith film Intolerance.
Movie buffs will immediately recognize the towering elephant statue and exotic gate from the film. What they may not realize is that the gate has been oddly angled so that it perfectly frames -- smog permitting -- the Hollywood Sign on the distant Hollywood hills.
According to a 2015 article in the Paris Review, the idea for re-building the Babylon set originally came from science fiction author Ray Bradbury, who was very pleased with the result.
The elephants and gate were taken down in August 2021, because the new owners of the shopping center did not want to associate themselves with "Birth of a Nation" Griffith.
