This 3-story wood-frame, stuccoed apartment building was located on the northwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Garfield Place. Designed in 1913 by architect Rudolph F. Schering for Coast Utility Investment Company, it was u-shaped with a courtyard in the center, a sun parlor on the roof and billiard parlor in the basement. Known as the New Hollywood Apartments, it was originally addressed as 5553 Hollywood Boulevard.
A permit for the construction was obtained in August 1913- nearly 100 years ago today. The plans were made public September 1913 and the building was ready for occupation by April 1914.
LA Times 9/21/1913
LA Express 4/4/1914
In November 1916, the apartment building was sold to investor Lucalvin M. Hoff for a reported #100,000.
LA Times 12/15/1916
George W. Tackabury took over lease of the property, managing it until February 1922, when he sold the lease to two women, Mattie H. Moore (Miss), who would run the place, and investor Mrs. Beth Lytal. By now the building’s address was 5555 Hollywood Boulevard. It was said to be “noted as the home of many motion picture celebrities.”
It surely well was, but it was also well known to the police blotter.
In 1968, David Chu built a 1-story restaurant on the property, known as Chu Chu’s. It later served a bakery.
Hollywood Citizen News 10/17/1969
The not-so new-anymore New Hollywood Apartments suffered substantial damage in the January 1994 Northridge earthquake and the building was demolished in 1997. The newer restaurant building remained but it too was demolished in 2005. The site sat vacant until late 2011, when the present senior housing complex, known as the Metro at Hollywood, was constructed.
Plan for the demolition of the New Hollywood Apartments, July 1997. LA Dept. of Building and Safety.
Plan for the demolition of the 1-story structure, 2005. LA Dept. of Building and Safety.
Site of the New Hollywood Apartments in 2009. Google map image.
J. H. Graham 
Looking west/northwest over the roof, one can see the large church over on Gramercy next to the retail row lining Hollywood Boulevard. Supposedly, this place was tied in to Ronald Reagan and other personalties. Ex-wife Jane Wyman was here as part of the starring cast of the Bob Hope/Jackie Gleason comedy How To Commit Marriage. The wedding scenes were filmed here for what would be Hope’s last full film as it was a box office bomber.( But it would play early in the career of a young actor who would go on to play “Damn glad to meet you” Eric Stratton in the huge hit Animal House.) The “Pot Bust Movie Premier” shots in L.A. Confidential would then be made looking down that road at the ex-bank tower on the southside.
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