 |
Seeing Stars: Hollywood Museums..

6608
Hollywood Boulevard,
Hollywood, CA. / (323) 957-5953
In 2005, Frederick's of Hollywood
moved from its historic building at 6608 Hollywood Blvd, to its new
flagship store a few blocks west, at 6751 Hollywood Blvd. (next door
to the Hollywood Wax Museum).
This puts Fredericks
closer to the new center of action in Hollywood, just east of Hollywood
& Highland. Unfortunately, they didn't
bring their Lingerie Hall of Fame with them to their new location. The
museum is no more.
In 2008, the old Frederick's
space reopened as a new restaurant and lounge named "The Kress".
The name is taken from the old Kress Department Store, which originally
occupied this 1935 Art Deco building before Frederick's moved in. (The
2008 TV Guide Emmy after-party will be held there.)
I will leave this page
up for a while, for those interested in reading about the former Hall of
Fame. But bear in mind that the article below was written when the museum
was open and Fredericks was still based at its original location on the
Boulevard.
|
One
place that stands out like a sore thumb on Hollywood Boulevard is Frederick's
of Hollywood, that giant gray & pink building a few blocks east
of the famous Chinese Theatre.
Frederick Mellinger now has
smaller versions of his stores in most modern shopping malls, of course,
but this outlandish Art Deco tower was the original flagship store, established
in 1946. (For many years, the building was painted a garish purple, but
fortunately, it was recently redone in its current, less-flamboyant color
scheme.)
Here, can you find musical
panties that play "Happy Birthday," to go with the push-up
bras. But as you might have guessed, there's more to do inside this Frederick's
than just buy provocative lingerie. Yes, believe it or not, tucked away
in the back of Frederick's, up a short flight of marble steps, is "The
Lingerie Museum," a unique display of historic examples of Frederick's
sexy undies. But the real draw here is a section called "The
Celebrity Lingerie Hall of Fame," which exhibits a collection
of (what else?) underwear worn by Hollywood movie stars!
It is billed as "a
tribute to the stars who glamorized lingerie."
They
have Madonna's black and gold bustier
(with tassels,
of course), which she wore
during her
"Who's
That Girl" tour
the
lacy garter belt worn by Susan Sarandon
in the Kevin
Costner film, "Bull
Durham"
a
fur-trimmed negligee and bra worn by
Cybill
Shepherd in the TV series
"Moonlighting"
"Peg Bundy's"
(Katey Sagal's) bra from
"Married...With
Children"
black
lace panties from Zsa Zsa Gabor
boxer
shorts worn by Tom Hanks in the film
"Forrest
Gump"
Lana
Turner's slip from "The
Merry Widow"
a
girdle worn by Ethel Merman in
"There's
No
Business
Like Show Business"
Judy
Garland's nightgown from
"Presenting
Lili Mars"
Ava Gardner's
petticoat from "Show
Boat"
two
bras from Cher
(one black, one white)
Ingrid
Bergman's corset from the movie,
"Cactus
Flower"
Jeanette
MacDonald's petticoat worn in the
film "Maytime"
undies
from the cast of "Beverly
Hills 90210" (Tori Spelling,
Tiffani-Amber Thiesen,
Kathleen Robertson,
Ian Ziering,
and Jason
Priestley)
as
well assorted "unmentionables" from
Mae
West, Natalie Wood, Kim
Basinger,
Jamie
Lee Curtis, Pamela Anderson Lee,
Robert
Redford, Lana Turner, Doris
Day,
Belinda Carlisle
(of "The Go-Go's"),
Naomi Judd,
Cyd Charisse, Bette Davis,
Shirley
MacLaine, KISS, Loni Anderson,
Isabel
Sanford and many more... they even
have Phyllis Diller's
training bra (marked
"This Side Up!")
|







|
In fact, there are even women's undies worn by male
actors in drag, such as the dress Milton Berle
wore on his TV show, and the bra Tony Curtis
wore in his hilarious performance in the classic "Some Like
It Hot."
Obviously, this museum is not for everyone, but it
is amusing, in a bizarre sort of way... and certainly offbeat.
Historic footnote:
In 1992, during the riots in South-Central L.A. (following the Rodney King
verdict), rioting spread as far west as Hollywood Boulevard. And Frederick's
was one of the businesses that was looted.
Thieves stole
about $200,000 worth of lingerie (which summons up bizarre images of looters
fleeing with arms full of push-up bras and crotchless panties...)
One item stolen
from the Hall of Fame was Madonna's
purple bustier with gold-tasseled cups (which she wore in the video "Open
Your Heart"). Frederick's offered a $1,000 reward for the return
of the garment, no questions asked, but it was never returned. So, in December
of 1992, Madonna donated the new black bustier, in return for a
$10,000 donation from Frederick's to her favorite charity (which provides
free mammograms for the poor).
While making
that announcement, Frederick's also announced some new additions to their
eccentric collection: lingerie from Marilyn
Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor
and Greta Garbo.
|
Admission to the museum is
free. The main museum is located in the back of the Frederick's store;
when you enter, just go to the left rear (southeast) corner of the store
and look for the neon sign. They rotate the exhibits, so not
all of the items will be on exhibit at any one time.
It's a small space. But not as small as it might at first appear to be.
Beneath the neon sign you'll find a glass display case containing about
six items on mannequins. This is NOT the entire museum. If you'll look
to your right, you'll see a small stairway leading up to the rest of the
museum, consisting of a short hallway with more exhibits, leading to a
small room filled with more glass displays cases.
Also, look for other celebrity
displays scattered throughout the store.
(And we probably don't have
to mention that Frederick's may not be the kind of place you'd want to
take your kids. As you'd expect, there's a heavy emphasis on sex throughout
the store.)
Hours:
The lingerie museum is open seven days a week, during
regular store hours.
Getting
there: The lingerie
museum is located on the bottom floor of the large gray & pink
Frederick's of Hollywood building (inside the store), on the south side
of Hollywood Boulevard, at Whitley Avenue (in between Highland & Vine
Streets), just a few blocks east of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. / From
Hollywood and Vine, just go west on Hollywood Boulevard, and Frederick's
will be on your left (south) side. You can't miss it.
[For more information on this
subject, you can access their official website at: http://www.fredericks.com.]
Looking
for something in particular? Search the Seeing-Stars website!
|
|
|