--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Hollywood was always best viewed at…" description: "\"“Hollywood was always best viewed at night. It could only hold its mystique in darkness. In sunlight the curtain comes up and the intrigue is gone, rep..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/michael-connelly-1004_darkness_hollywood-was-always-best-viewed-at-nigh_356264.jpg" --- # Hollywood was always best viewed at night. It could only… ![“Hollywood was always best viewed at night. It could only hold its mystique in darkness. In sunlight the curtain comes up and the intrigue is gone, replaced by a sense of hidden danger. It was a place of takers and users, of broken sidewalks and dreams. You build a city in the desert, water it with…” quote by Michael Connelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/michael-connelly-1004_darkness_hollywood-was-always-best-viewed-at-nigh_356264.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/michael-connelly-1004_darkness_hollywood-was-always-best-viewed-at-nigh_356264.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/michael-connelly-1004_darkness_hollywood-was-always-best-viewed-at-nigh_356264.jpg) > ““Hollywood was always best viewed at night. It could only hold its mystique in darkness. In sunlight the curtain comes up and the intrigue is gone, replaced by a sense of hidden danger. It was a place of takers and users, of broken sidewalks and dreams. You build a city in the desert, water it with false hopes and false idols, and eventually this is what happens. The desert reclaims it, turns it arid, leaves it barren. Human tumbleweeds drift across its streets, predators hide in the rocks.”” [Michael Connelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-connelly/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Hollywood thrives on mystery; daylight strips its allure, leaving emptiness. **In simple terms:** Mystery fuels allure; light reveals emptiness. Key Takeaway Preserve intrigue. Themes illusion illusion decay Mood cynical reflective Type critical philosophical When to use this quote - film industry - creative projects - personal ambition Key Concepts Narrative of fame urban decay Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of fame are truly valuable? - How does transparency affect perception? A Different Perspective Excessive secrecy can breed cynicism and stagnation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [Desert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert/) [Hollywood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hollywood/) ## Related quotes > [“You build a city in the desert, water it with false hopes and false idols, and eventually this is what happens. The desert reclaims…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-connelly/you-build-a-city-in-the-desert-water-it-with-false-hopes-and-false/) [Michael Connelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-connelly/) > [“You could have the city, You could find me in the desert”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hmm/you-could-have-the-city-you-could-find-me-in-the-desert/) hmm > [There is, I have heard, a little thing called sunrise, in which the sun reverses the process we all viewed the night before. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-willig/there-is-i-have-heard-a-little-thing-called-sunrise-in-which-the-sun/) [Lauren Willig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-willig/) > [Standing at the edge of our city, a man could feel that we had made this place of streets and dwellings in the stillness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-saroyan/standing-at-the-edge-of-our-city-a-man-could-feel-that-we-had-made/) [William Saroyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-saroyan/) > [This city desert makes you feel so cold. It's got so many people, but it's got no soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerry-rafferty/this-city-desert-makes-you-feel-so-cold-it-s-got-so-many-people-but/) [Gerry Rafferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerry-rafferty/) > [“I see a city in the desert lies The vanity of an ancient king But the city lies in broken pieces While the wind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sting/i-see-a-city-in-the-desert-lies-the-vanity-of-an-ancient-king-but-the/) [Sting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sting/) > [There is nothing in the desert and no man needs nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david/there-is-nothing-in-the-desert-and-no-man-needs-nothing/) [David](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david/) > [Use every man according to his desert and who should 'scape whipping? 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I liked what they did - piecing things together, thinking about situations. But to get there?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-connelly/i-was-enamored-of-detectives-as-a-teenager-i-liked-what-they-did/) [Michael Connelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-connelly/) [Explore all 306 Michael Connelly quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-connelly/) ## More Darkness quotes > [“Narrative cannot sustain formlessness any more than light can sustain darkness - it is the antithesis of formlessness, and so it can never truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/narrative-cannot-sustain-formlessness-any-more-than-light-can-sustain/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Strange - is it not? 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More shadow than form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/clear-moments-are-so-short-there-is-much-more-darkness-more-ocean/) [Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/) > [I even see the cinema itself as a woman, with its alternation of light and darkness, of appearing and disappearing images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/i-even-see-the-cinema-itself-as-a-woman-with-its-alternation-of-light/) [Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/) > [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Even in darkness your lips taste of sunshine”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/even-in-darkness-your-lips-taste-of-sunshine/) [Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/) > [“Defy me not for gleam can only shine in my existence" said Darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/defy-me-not-for-gleam-can-only-shine-in-my-existence-said-darkness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What does he look like? 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Do you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-gentile/twinking-tears-in-a-sea-of-black-soft-light-in-a-world-of-darkness/) Nicole Gentile [Browse all 8,219 Darkness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Hollywood was always best viewed at night. It could only hold its mystique in darkness. In sunlight the curtain comes up and the intrigue is gone, replaced by a sense of hidden danger. It was a place of takers and users, of broken sidewalks and dreams. You build a city in the desert, water it with false hopes and false idols, and eventually this is what happens. The desert reclaims it, turns it arid, leaves it barren. 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