Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
postscript
OK, I just looked at the 2nd old photographs again.
There appears to be a 'lens' (or screen?) several feet inside the frame that is slightly slanted downward.  (but I don't think it's enough to make a difference)
Do see it? Does it look slightly slanted to anyone else or am I imagining things?
Obviously the dark space between the outer frame and this interior 'screen' worked as a shield from the sun so the image could be seen during the day.
Also too. . .surely something this large and out of the ordinary was reported in the local newspapers. (but so far , zilch)
Whatever it is. . this roof-top oddity has stumped all of us for years and is one of the very few mysteries that we haven't been able to solve on NLA. 
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Under magnification, it does look like there's a rear-projection screen housed within the box structure. There also appears to be a steel cable strung across the opening most of the way up. I don't see any provision for audio, so stills or silent movies likely were the video format.
Looking across the street, where the presumed audience would be, there was the Cherokee Building (now the Hollywood-Cherokee Building). The "T" intersection provides for a longer continuous sidewalk on that side of the Boulevard, which makes me wonder if it was a preferred area for viewing parades or whatever.
Meanwhile, note the apparent radio antenna mast supported by guy wires above or behind the United Airlines ticket office. The mast doesn't appear substantial enough for commercial broadcast (could be wrong here), so I wonder (a) if that's what it was, (b) what its purpose might've been and (c) if it had any relationship beyond proximity to The Thing.
For a smallish commercial building, The Virginia certainly had its share of interesting features.