Could condos kill the sound at Capitol Records?

That's what the music makers say, when pile drivers and excavators for a new condo project tear into the earth just 18 feet away from the signature tower's famed echo chambers. Our own Bob Poole has the full story here.

And here's some fun stuff from Bob's notebook:

It was the world’s first circular office building when construction started in 1954 on Hollywood’s landmark Capitol Records tower, but it wasn’t designed to resemble a stack of records, architect Welton Becket always insisted.The shape was chosen for the “economy of construction, operation and maintenance, plus maximum utilization of space,”  Becket said.

    According to Capitol officials, it didn’t take long for the jokes to make the rounds when the building finally opened in 1956. They’ve kept a copy of a record trade magazine that two months after the tower’s opening reported some of the laugh lines the place had inspired:

    “It’s round like a record, but what are they going to do when the industry changes to tape?”

    “There are no squares in the Capitol Tower.”

     “You ought to put a coin machine in front of the building so tourists can drop in fifty cents and watch the Tower revolve.”

     “Secretaries are going to love the new building because their bosses can’t corner them there.”

     “I hear they’re changing the speeds on the freeway behind the Capitol Tower to 78, 45 and 33 1/3 m.p.h.”

     “Song publisher’s lament:  ‘I went to Capitol and they gave me the run-around.’”

     “We hear there’s a huge record changer on the roof that ejects floors.”

     “Now that the intersection of Hollywood and Vine has the ultra-modern Capitol tower, the name’s being changed to Hollywood and Vinyl.”

     “After they put an Italian restaurant on the roof, they’re going to call the building the Tower of Pizza.”

More new condos vs. a signature sound. Is it worth it?

--Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times