The shopping center at Hollywood and Highland in Hollywood is probably one of the most visited places in Los Angeles. Most tourists visit the place together with the Chinese Theatre.
OK. Probably the most surprising thing about this place is the design, specially the statues of those two elephants high above the place. Some of us also notice the strange Babylonian mural.
It looks like an old Hollywood set, something out of a picture like Cleopatra.....but most people think it is just a generic thing inspired by Hollywood's Golden Era and forget about it.
Yes....and No. This is not generic.......it is a limited reproduction of one of the most grand and fabulous sets ever designed....the set of D.W. Griffith"s 1916 epic Intolerance. That film was the most expensive to make up to that point, and was a commercial flop, creating big financial problems for Griffith and the studio. The original set was not far from Hollywood and Highland. Some think that the idea of elephants comes from the italian film Cabiria, another classic. The set was so large that it could not be dismantled after shooting wrapped up, and was a type of "tourist attraction" for a couple of years until it finally came down. The builders of the mall must have known this, and are sort of recreating a great moment in film history. Sort of nice.
In the pictures, you can compare the original set to what we have now.... 
