The DCA Hollywood Tower Hotel: Secrets from the Van Eaton Gallery Exhibit!

I'm quite late in getting this post together, as the holidays and first month of this year have been quite busy for me. I apologize for that, but I figure quality is worth it over getting posts out quickly... right?

Anyways, the Van Eaton Gallery auctioned off several significant set pieces from DCA's Tower of Terror in December 2017, and put them on free public exhibit before the auction. I of course took the opportunity to finally see these props up close... even if it was rather sad, as the auction was proof that DCA Tower is 100% officially gone for good.

The first thing I noticed was the sheer size of the lobby props. I always vaguely felt that the lobby felt a bit too small to be the lobby of a large hotel, but apparently that was a bizarre optical illusion caused by filling what must have been a gigantic space with equally gigantic furniture. I'd estimated that the lamps by the fireplace, for example, were about my height. Instead, they towered (no pun intended) over me (they were 80 inches tall, according to the gallery's description), and the key cabinet was even taller (107 inches tall, to be exact)! Likewise, the fireplace grating was suitably large for the scale. Even the "small" lobby lamps, which hung over the side scenes such as the card table, were far, far larger than expected... these "small" lamps would easily dwarf the average dining room chandelier.

View of the majority of the Tower props on display. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice the fireplace lamps are turned the wrong way; this was to hide the fact that a glass panel on each one's lampshade was broken.

This "small" lobby lamp measured 38 inches tall, not including the chain, according to the official gallery description. Just behind it you can see one of the "dragon" lamps from the vines area of the outdoor queue; interestingly, the gallery's catalog says that the head on the lamp is that of a Foo Dog and not a dragon.

Hilariously, the key cabinet still had blue painters tape on it from when it was installed in 2004! While my photos didn't show the tape, some photos by Daveland do show that this painters tape was on the key cabinet for the entirety of Tower's run.

Painter's tape on the bottom of the key cabinet

More painter's tape along the side.

The televisions used for the pre-show were likewise unexpectedly large. The TVs themselves weren't for auction, but the decorative "HTH"-logoed casings that housed them were. The gallery's measurements for the casings didn't include the size of the screen cutout, but the casing dimensions were 28.5 x 46.5 inches. Based on my own visual estimate, screens would have been considered "large screen" for 1994 and even 2004, much less 1939! I suppose they were situated high enough on the shelf of the library that their anachronistic sizing wasn't apparent to guests.

Queen's library TV case

King's library TV casing

Perhaps more interesting than the size of the props, however, were some fascinating Easter Eggs that I managed to miss while the attraction was in operation. The most notable were the messages on the bulletin board which used to hang in the boiler room hallway that led from the libraries. I'd never heard anyone mention any Easter Eggs on the board, and I never really lingered long enough in that hallway to actually read it. My photos of the board in situ were too blurry to note the details. In the brightly-lit gallery, however, I was finally able to examine it.

Overall view of the board on display

The board was divided into three panels, so I'll delve into them from left to right. Since a lot of the items on the board were made to look handwritten, they were very difficult to read. Words that I have attempted to guess are followed by "(???)", while words I could not decipher at all are marked as "[unreadable]".

The left panel. Click on image or open it in a new tab to zoom in and examine the entries!

The topmost item on the left panel was a note written on yellow paper reading:

Staff Meeting Thursday

9pm Boiler Room

Refreshments will be served

Below that was a handwritten note on white paper, reading:

Lost-- reading glasses, horn rim, thick lenses AD-0405

Obviously, this second memo referenced the broken glasses Easter Egg found in the library, which in turn were from the Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough To Last".

The next note was on yellow paper again, and also looked handwritten. It read:

Lost--silver thimble, slight scratch Call Ives (???) yo-7169 (???)

This referenced the dented thimbles from the lobby, which were from the episode "The After Hours".

The next item down was thankfully easier to read, thanks to being typed. It was an announcement for a fictitious play, which read:

The Tower Players Present

"Where is Everybody?"

Open Auditions for our next production

Tonight

7:00 to 11:00 PM

Volunteers needed for the following technical positions:

Director

Stage Manager,

Set Designer

Lighting Director

Costume Designer.

No experience necessary--but helpful.

Note that the random comma and period in the list was on the actual list on the board. This was perhaps the most significant Easter Egg I found on the board. "Where is Everybody" was the very first Twilight Zone episode! I've never found record of anybody else discovering this reference in the Tower before either!

This announcement overlapped with a group photo of a large amount of people. Were these supposed to be the Tower Players?

The lowest items on the left panel were a Works Progress Administration (WPA) poster reading "Work Promotes Confidence" and a 4th place ribbon. 4th place for what? We may never know.

Now, on to the center panel.

The center panel; once again, click or open in new tab to view larger!

The first item on this panel was another WPA poster, reading "Work Pays America".

The item below it was a photo of a house. I have no idea if this house has any significance, or if it was merely a stock photo chosen as a filler image.

Next was a large printed announcement. On yellow paper it read, "TONIGHT" while on blue it read:

Annual Costume Ball

Employees and their families Ballroom C

Dance Contest

Door Prizes

This mention of an annual costume ball reinforced that the Twilight Zone disaster happened on Halloween Night.

Costume ball flyer detail, photo by Mrbellcaptain

At the bottom of the center panel was a series of "For Rent" ads printed on yellow paper. They were rather abbreviation-heavy and unfortunately light glare prevented me from getting a clear photo of some of the words, but from what I can tell it read:

For Rent

325 MODERN dbl. Apt, Sep, Ent, Frig, Gar 412 S. Norton SC-24718

327.50 4-RM & sleeping porc, X bed, Redec. 2111 Magnolia

332.50 4-Rm Upper 2607 Orchard ave, Just S. of Adams

Avail. Nov. 1st, 380- Unfurn., 3br., 12 baths, deck, porch, 9947 Young Dr. CR-17048

335, Nr., New May co, 4-rm, sleep porch, Frig, Gar, Nr School, Child welcome, 4261 W. Olympic PA- 5827

"For Rent" posting detail, photo by Mrbellcaptain

I have no idea if any of this has any significance, or even what some of it means. I am, however, particularly intrigued by the listing that seems to state that some place to rent has three bedrooms, but TWELVE bathrooms. Perhaps that mysterious house picture is meant to be one of these places for rent? If so, is it the one with twelve bathrooms?

Below the for rent sign, crumpled at the bottom, was a 3rd place ribbon. I know from my photos of the ride that this was originally pinned next to the 4th place ribbon on the left panel. This still gives no answer as to why there are even ribbons there in the first place. Third and fourth place for what?

The right panel was the most frustrating. It had many notes, but they are all handwritten, or alternately done in a messy font made to look handwritten. I absolutely cannot decipher many of them, or can only figure out one or two words. I've transcribed what I can; please comment if you've figured one out!

Overall view of the right panel; once again click or open in new tab to view larger and see details

The first note was a large square paper, reading,

One of the finest cooks in [unreadable] [unreadable] Salary open TR-4429

Detail of the first note, half of the second note, and the third note. Photo by Mrbellcaptain

The next note read:

NURSE, companion, unencumbered, will travel, ref TR-4429

Detail better showcasing the second note. Photo by Mrbellcaptain

The next read:

Want-- intell. Reliable steno-typist to earn tuition for pt time work in costume design school HE 4067

Beneath that note were two pinned side by side. The smaller one on the left read:

Mother's helper, Sal, Put Rm (???), Thurs & Sun off (???) NO-11567

The larger note to the right read:

Cook, husband as gardener, Apt furn, CA-16354

No, that wasn't an error--this note actually had the exact same text repeated twice!

The next paper had two notes written on it. Sadly, the first note is basically unreadable, and the second half was a copy of another note already on the board:

[unreadable] new or used furniture, [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable], MO 11057

Mother's helper, Sal, Put Rm (???), Thurs & Sun off (???) NO-11567

The next note read:

Young girl, mother's helper, no (???) washers (???), Call [unreadable] [unreadable] CR [unreadable]

The next note was approximately the size of a post-it and had three short lines of handwritten-looking text. Unfortunately, none of the photos I have available were clear enough to decipher ANY of this message.

The final message on the right side was arguably the most interesting on this panel:

LOST-- pocket watch, substantial value, broken dial (???) [unreadable] call HE-4067

This, of course, referenced the broken stopwatch in the lobby, which in turn referenced the Twilight Zone episode "A Kind of a Stopwatch".

Detail of the lower section of the right panel by Mrbellcaptain

I was ecstatic to find new (well, new to me) Easter Eggs on the bulletin board! Furthermore, the thimble, glasses, and stopwatch Easter Eggs added an internal continuity to the Tower. However, given that the thimble and watch were placed next to gift shop advertisements in the lobby, it seemingly implies that the staff were pranksters--putting lost items on display!

I don't have much in particular to say about the rest of the items on display, but figured I'd include photos of them here anyways: