Capitol Records: The Tower That Blinks Hollywood in Morse

The Capitol Records building at Vine Street and Hollywood Boulevard looks like what it is. A young architect named Louis Naidorf, working at Welton Becket's firm, designed it in nineteen fifty-six as the first circular office tower ever built, and the stated intention was that from above, the tower would suggest a stack of records on a turntable.

What the building does unambiguously is blink. The rooftop aircraft-warning beacon sends a continuous Morse code signal into the Hollywood night: H, O, L, L, Y, W, O, O, D. It has been blinking since the building opened in nineteen fifty-six without interruption.

The recording studios in the basement are another matter. They are among the most acoustically significant spaces in American music history. Frank Sinatra recorded there. Nat King Cole recorded there. The Beach Boys recorded Pet Sounds partially there. The Beatles used the Capitol studios during their American recording sessions. The studios are still in use.

The building is a near-perfect object: a corporate identity turned into architecture turned into a cultural landmark that still functions exactly as designed. The beacon blinks HOLLYWOOD in Morse every night, whether anyone in Los Angeles looks up or not.