Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Introduction

As the 1900s began, Hollywood was becoming a town among its orchards and open fields. These photographs follow that growth through the Hollywood Hotel, an early church at Hollywood and Vine, Hollywood High School, streetcar excursions, and new neighborhoods. Filmmaking brought another chapter when the Nestor Film Company established Hollywood’s first permanent movie studio at Sunset and Gower in 1911.

Other views show the home that later became the Magic Castle and the surrounding hills before extensive development. The page closes with a glimpse ahead to the Hollywoodland sign under construction in 1923.

Historical Notes

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Hollywood was changing from an agricultural community into a residential town. Orchards and cultivated fields remained beside newly laid out streets, while electric railway service made the area easier to reach from Los Angeles.

The newly built Hollywood Hotel, visible at right, was part of developer H. J. Whitley’s effort to attract visitors and prospective homeowners. The open ground in the foreground would soon become part of Hollywood High School’s campus, placing two of the community’s early institutions within a short walk of each other.

Hollywood Hotel: From Country Resort to Hollywood Landmark

Before Hollywood became known for movies, the Hollywood Hotel welcomed visitors to a community of orchards, gardens, and country homes. Opened in 1902 at Prospect and Highland avenues, it grew into a gathering place for residents, travelers, and later the people building the film industry. These photographs follow its transformation from a small country resort to a familiar Hollywood landmark.

Historical Notes

The Hollywood Hotel opened in December 1902, when Hollywood was still a small community surrounded by agricultural land. An opening celebration on December 19 brought together developers, civic leaders, and invited guests.

Developer H. J. Whitley promoted the hotel to attract visitors and prospective residents. Its location helped establish Prospect and Highland as an important intersection in the growing town.

Historical Notes

Architects Oliver Perry Dennis and Lyman Farwell designed the hotel with Mission Revival features and broad porches. Their firm also designed the Hollywood residence that later became the Magic Castle.

Only the original section of the hotel appears in this photograph. Within a few years, additions would extend its frontage west along Prospect Avenue toward the street later known as Orchid Avenue.

Historical Notes

The hotel offered visitors a country retreat within reach of Los Angeles. Its accommodations also gave prospective residents a place to stay while exploring Hollywood’s new residential tracts.

Prospect Avenue was still an unpaved road bordered by homes, gardens, and agricultural land. Whitley supported improvements to the avenue, helping establish it as the community’s main street.

Historical Notes

Eliza Ann Otis was a poet and longtime contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She died on November 12, 1904, providing an upper date limit for this photograph.

In 1905, her husband honored her with the Eliza A. Otis Memorial Chimes at Hollywood Cemetery, now Hollywood Forever. Harrison Gray Otis also maintained a Hollywood country property known as The Outpost.

Historical Notes

Electric cars of the Los Angeles Pacific Railway helped connect Hollywood with Los Angeles. Visitors could travel out to enjoy its hotels and gardens, while prospective homeowners could explore its new neighborhoods.

The strawberry patch shows how farming and development existed side by side. Hollywood’s main street was taking shape while cultivated fields still occupied nearby land.

Historical Notes

The hotel expanded within a few years of opening, adding guest rooms and larger spaces for dining and social gatherings. Its longer frontage reflected Hollywood’s growing appeal as a place to visit and live.

The additions transformed the small original hotel into a sprawling property with landscaped grounds. Banquets, dances, and other events made it a gathering place for residents as well as travelers.

Historical Notes

Almira “Mira” Hershey, heiress to an Iowa lumber fortune, became one of the hotel’s most influential owners. A frequently repeated story says she visited after seeing a newspaper advertisement and was won over by the dining room’s apple pie.

The apple pie story belongs to the hotel’s lore, but Hershey’s importance extended well beyond it. Her ownership helped establish the property as a center of Hollywood society, connecting its early resort years with the arrival of the movie industry.

Historical Notes

Hollywood High School began in September 1903 in temporary quarters at the Masonic Temple on Highland Avenue, north of Prospect Avenue. Its permanent campus was established at Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue, with the first school building completed in 1905.

Seen from the school grounds, the enlarged hotel stands out against the still lightly developed hillside. The school and hotel were becoming established institutions while open land remained nearby.

Historical Notes

The broad porch offered guests a shaded place to talk, read, and watch activity along the street. Concerts, dances, and other gatherings helped make the hotel a center of community life.

Margaret J. Anderson managed the hotel during its early years. In 1912, she opened the Beverly Hills Hotel, bringing staff, furnishings, and a number of guests from the Hollywood property.

Historical Notes

Hollywood’s need for dependable water and access to Los Angeles’s sewer system helped persuade residents to support consolidation. The merger took effect on February 7, 1910, while Los Angeles was building its aqueduct from the Owens Valley.

During this transition, Prospect Avenue became Hollywood Boulevard, and addresses were revised to match Los Angeles’s street numbering system. Early photographs, postcards, and directories may therefore identify the same property by a different street name or number.

Historical Notes

Mira Hershey’s influence extended beyond the hotel through her property investments and philanthropy. Her name remains associated with both Hollywood’s early social life and the development of UCLA.

After her death in 1930, her $300,000 bequest funded the university’s first residence hall for women. Mira Hershey Hall opened in October 1931.

Historical Notes

The Bernheimers purchased the hillside property from H. J. Whitley in 1913, linking their estate with the developer who had helped establish the hotel below. Their residence was completed in 1914 to house their collection of Asian art.

Franklin M. Small designed the building, with Walter Webber serving as supervising architect. Its Japanese inspired architecture and terraced gardens created a new landmark overlooking Hollywood.

Historical Notes

As filmmaking expanded during the 1910s, the Hollywood Hotel welcomed people working in the new industry. Guests included producers Jesse Lasky, Carl Laemmle, and Louis B. Mayer.

Rudolph Valentino was among its best known residents. The hotel’s association with silent film personalities and its popular social gatherings connected a resort founded before the movie era with the industry that made Hollywood famous.

Historical Notes

The Hollywood Hotel was demolished in August 1956. A development anchored by the First Federal Savings and Loan office building replaced the hotel, along with shops and parking.

That development was later cleared for Hollywood & Highland, which opened in November 2001. Now called Ovation Hollywood, the complex includes the Dolby Theatre, originally the Kodak Theatre, where the Academy Awards were first held in 2002.

Hollywood Boulevard Before the Movie Palaces

Homes, Gardens, and Fields Along Prospect Avenue, 1903–1907

In the early 1900s, Hollywood Boulevard was still Prospect Avenue, a street of homes, gardens, and nearby cultivated fields. Streetcar tracks ran down its center, connecting the growing community with Los Angeles and helping attract residents, visitors, and property buyers. Hollywood was developing into a residential suburb years before its name became associated with the motion picture industry.

These photographs explore the neighborhood around Vine Street, Wilcox Avenue, and Whitley Avenue between 1903 and 1907. They show the open landscape around the future Hollywood and Vine intersection, the Bartlett estate overlooking nearby fields, and residences along a main street whose commercial transformation was still ahead.

Historical Notes

The intersection appeared as Prospect and Weyse avenues on the Wilcoxes’ 1887 Hollywood map. Weyse Avenue later became Vine Street, a name associated with grapevines growing farther south near present-day Santa Monica Boulevard. Prospect Avenue became Hollywood Boulevard in 1910, when the independent city of Hollywood consolidated with Los Angeles.

George W. Hoover settled in Hollywood around 1900 and purchased a ranch between Vine and Ivar streets. His home occupied the northwest corner of the intersection. A former Pennsylvania carriage manufacturer, Hoover became president of the Bank of Hollywood and served as Hollywood’s first city treasurer. Across Vine Street, the open northeast corner eventually acquired the Equitable Building in 1929 and the Pantages Theatre immediately to the east in 1930.

Historical Notes

Albert Griffin Bartlett headed the Bartlett Music Company, a Los Angeles business known for selling pianos, other musical instruments, and sheet music. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, he developed Vista del Mar around a Mission Revival residence on elevated ground. Its landscaped grounds became a local attraction. In 1909, the Los Angeles Herald reported that the gardens contained 75,000 carnations and 30,000 roses and were open to the public on Sundays.

Music was an important part of life at the estate. Bartlett’s daughters, Florence and Bessie, were accomplished musicians, and the home hosted performances and social gatherings. In 1927, four years after Bartlett’s death, his family sold the remaining estate for $1.35 million to an investment group. Plans included extending Argyle Avenue north through the property as the surrounding neighborhood gave way to commercial development.

Historical Notes

Rail service reached Hollywood before the electric streetcars. The Cahuenga Valley Railroad operated steam trains along Prospect Avenue during the community’s early development. Around 1900, electric service brought improved connections with Los Angeles, making Hollywood more accessible to commuters, tourists, and prospective residents.

The railway helped turn agricultural land into residential neighborhoods. New subdivisions offered homesites near the foothills, while hotels and gardens attracted visitors arriving by streetcar. A 1904 Hollywood Board of Trade publication promoted the community as Hollywood: The City of Homes, reflecting its ambitions during the period shown here.

Historical Notes

Built in 1903, the Janes House was one of the model homes developed by H. J. Whitley along Prospect Avenue. Designed by Dennis and Farwell, it combined Queen Anne and Dutch Colonial Revival features. The Janes family purchased the house and occupied it in 1905. Its early address was 241 West Prospect Avenue, later changed to 6541 Hollywood Boulevard.

From 1911 to 1926, the family operated the Misses Janes School of Hollywood, using the house and gardens for lessons. Students included children of Cecil B. DeMille, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks. As commercial buildings replaced neighboring homes, the Janes House survived. It was designated a city landmark in 1982 and moved toward the rear of its lot during redevelopment in 1985.

Historical Notes

The residence had belonged to Eli C. Hurd before Hobart Johnstone Whitley purchased it and the surrounding property in April 1899 for $22,500, according to the City of Los Angeles’ SurveyLA historic context statement. It became Whitley’s home during a period when he was helping promote Hollywood as a residential community.

Whitley’s development activities included the Ocean View Tract and the Hollywood Hotel. His residence and gardens illustrate the spacious residential setting that attracted buyers to Prospect Avenue. Along with improved transportation and new subdivisions, such properties helped shape Hollywood’s early identity as a community of homes before shops, offices, and theatres transformed its main street.

Hollywood Memorial Church: Before the Taft Building

An Early Landmark at Hollywood and Vine, 1903–1923

Before the Taft Building rose above Hollywood and Vine, a church tower marked the intersection’s southeast corner. Built in 1903, Hollywood Memorial Church stood beside the homes, gardens, and orchards of a growing community. These two photographs show the building around 1905, when Hollywood Boulevard was still known as Prospect Avenue.

The church remained a familiar feature of the intersection for about twenty years. Its replacement by a twelve story office building in the early 1920s reflected Hollywood’s change from a residential community into a business center increasingly connected with the motion picture industry.

Historical Notes

Daeida Wilcox Beveridge provided the corner property for the church. Built in 1903, the Mission Revival style building was designed by architect Henry F. Starbuck. Archival photograph descriptions identify it as the Methodist Episcopal South Church of Hollywood, while other historical accounts use the name Hollywood Memorial Church.

The church belonged to a period when Hollywood was establishing the institutions of a growing town. Homes, gardens, and agricultural land still surrounded the intersection, and the church tower rose above much of the nearby development. Its presence helped give the crossroads a recognizable center long before Hollywood and Vine became associated with movie stars, radio broadcasts, and office towers.

Historical Notes

Developer A. Z. Taft Jr. purchased the church property for $125,000 and commissioned architects Walker and Eisen to design a twelve story office building on the site. The church was removed in 1923. The replacement, known as the Taft Building, became one of the early high rise landmarks that changed the scale of Hollywood Boulevard.

The Taft Building’s tenants reflected the neighborhood’s growing connection with the entertainment business. Charlie Chaplin, Will Rogers, agents, casting companies, and entertainment lawyers maintained offices there. From 1935 to 1946, it also housed the headquarters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The change from church to office tower illustrates how much this corner evolved within a single generation.

Historical Notes

The house itself, known as "The Outpost", was built in 1853 by Don Tornas Urquidez, at what is now 7061 Franklin Street. It was demolished in 1924.^^

Historical Notes

General Harrison Otis purchased the land and adobe, which he later renamed "Outpost," from Don Tómas Urquidez. During the years of Otis' ownership, "The Outpost" was a popular center for social gatherings for the general, his associates, and fellow veterans. This piece of real estate would change hands a number of times before becoming part of the Outpost Estates. In the early 1920s, Otis sold the property to Charles E. Toberman, who went on to develop the residential community of Outpost Estates.*

Historical Notes

In 1903 the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary purchased fifteen-acres in Hollywood on which to develop a school. Two years later on April 24, 1905 a ground-breaking took place for the first campus building (shown here), which included classrooms for high school and elementary school students, boarding facilities, as well as living quarters for the nuns.*

Historical Notes

In 1905, when the school was officially founded, there were a total of 75 students and the curriculum included history, mathematics, Latin, physiology, Greek, French, Spanish, English, chemistry, physics, music, art, and drama.*

Historical Notes

During this period, Western Avenue changed from a rutted wagon road to a major artery, Los Feliz from a cow path to a boulevard, and the surrounding olive and orange groves yielded first to California bungalows, then to apartment structures and business and industrial complexes. The school was originally called Immaculate Heart College, even though it began as a high school. The College portion opened in the following decade.^^

Historical Notes

Arthur Letts, Sr. was born in England. In 1882 he emigrated to Toronto, Canada, and found employment in a large dry goods store. When the Red River Rebellion broke out in the Northwest of Canada, he volunteered. He was awarded a silver medal and clasp for distinguished service, and a grant of land by the Canadian government. In the early 1890s he emigrated to the United States in Seattle, Washington and began retail employment in dry goods. Having little success, he then headed for L.A. in 1895.

At the corner of Fourth and Broadway, then on the far southern edge of the downtown Los Angeles business district, the J. A. Williams & Co. Dry Goods Store had gone bankrupt. With the help of an influential friend, who was impressed with Letts’ knowledge of that type of business, a loan of $5000 was secured from the Los Angeles National Bank, and opened his business on February 24, 1896. He named the department store The Broadway.*^

Historical Notes

Arthur Letts knew real estate was great for investment in fast-growing Los Angeles. And with his significant access to capital, it was just a matter of time before he made one of his most significant purchases. In 1919 heirs to the Wolfskill Ranch (Rancho San Jose de Buenos Aires) were ready to sell, but they wanted cash. The former ranch consisted of over 3,200 acres, with an approximate border of Pico Blvd. on the south, L.A. Country Club on the east, Sunset Blvd. on the north, and I-405 on the west.  Purchased for $2 Million, Arthur turned over development to his son-in-law Harold Janss' company, Janss Investment Co. The area south of Wilshire contained land reserved for movie studios. The townsite of Westwood was laid out, which by 1927 contained 4,000 people.^#^#

He later also developed the westside residential community of Holmby Hills, loosely derived from the name of his birthplace, a small village in England called Holdenby.*^

Click HERE to see more in early views of UCLA and Westwood.

Historical Notes

Arthur Letts was also the 'behind the scenes' financial founder and owner of Bullock's department store, and put John Bullock from his The Broadway to direct this store. After Letts' death, Bullock and a group of investors purchased the store from the estate.*^

Historical Notes

The grounds of Los Feliz district, Hollywood estate Holmby House were formally laid out with wide variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers, and Letts’ cactus collection was known across the country. It was bound by Franklin Avenue, Vermont Avenue, Los Feliz Boulevard, and Laughlin Park. The gardens were open to the public for tours, with the Pacific Electric Railway stopping at it. It was his wish that the gardens be continued even after his death. Upon his death in May 1923, his wife, at the suggestion of son-in-law Harold Janss of Janss Investment Company (who lived at the back of the property), demolished the gardens and mansion in 1927 to subdivide and develop the land, and moved to a new residence in Holmby Hills. Henry E. Huntington purchased many of the rare specimen cacti for his Huntington Desert Garden at his estate and Huntington Library in San Marino.*^

Historical Notes

In 1909, the estate was a stop on the Points of Interest for Hollywood tour, which also included Paul De Longpre's residence about a mile away. The Herald write-up in their Sunday magazine read: Arthur Letts' Mansion and Grounds - Immense country place. Large sunken gardens. A full acre of every known variety of cacti. Flowers in profusion. The largest coca plumosa drive in Southern California. Grounds open to visitors Thursdays.^#^#

Historical Notes

The Balloon Route Trolley trip was the featured route of the Los Angeles Pacific, opened in September 1901. The line ran from downtown LA through Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Redondo Beach and back to L.A. via Culver City. The lines stopped at beach resorts and included free entrance to some en-route stops attractions along the way, including: Sunset Boulevard, studio of painter Paul de Longpré, bean fields of Morocco in Beverly Hills, Sawtelle Veterans Home and Old Soldiers' Home in Sawtelle, Long Wharf, Camera Obscura at Santa Monica, Playa del Rey Pavilion for a fish dinner, Redondo's Moonstone Beach, Venice, and Palms - Culver City.*^

Historical Notes

The street car departed downtown LA at 9:30 am each day and returned to LA at 5:00 pm for the cost of $1.00. This excursions line was heavily advertised and thus became well known. The first car used was a Parlor car (#400), as the line became popular more cars were added. The owner of Hollywood's first Hotel, the Glen-Holly Hotel, operated the line for the LAP. In 1906 the PE took ownership and operation of the line.*^

Historical Notes

Perhaps the most famous Hollywood transplant of the time was Paul de Longpre, a French horticultural painter who arrived in Los Angeles with his family in 1889. After de Longpre discovered his ideal flowers growing in Hollywood, he met Daeida Wilcox, who was so anxious to attract culture that she gave him her homesite, three lots on Cahuenga just north of Prospect (later Hollywood Blvd.), for his estate.***

Historical Notes

The mansion and gardens Paul de Longpre built not only drew Hollywood society but served as a lure for new property buyers and tourists. So many visitors came to see “Le Roi des Fleurs” that the P.E. Railway added a trolley spur on Ivar Avenue to deposit them closer to the estate.***

Historical Notes

The home was located on the west side of Cahuenga Blvd. at Hollywood Blvd. on property Longpré obtained from Mrs. Wilcox Beveridge after he moved to Los Angeles in 1889. The artist, who was born in Lyons, France, desired the 65-foot-deep lots for an extensive flower garden. The residence was a popular tourist destination for several years and was demolished in 1927.*

Historical Notes

Tours of the house and gardens, along with prints of his floral paintings, supported the de Longpre family until the artist’s death in 1911. After his family returned to France, the house and gardens were demolished for their valuable real estate, and de Longpre’s paintings–romantic still-lifes of roses, orchids and the like–fell permanently out of fashion.***

Historical Notes

If not for De Longpre Avenue, most Hollywooders today would not recognize his name, let alone his art.***

Historical Notes

The home was located on the west side of Cahuenga Blvd. at Hollywood Blvd. on property Longpré obtained from Mrs. Wilcox Beveridge after he moved to Los Angeles in 1889. The residence was a popular tourist destination for several years. The increased property values in rapidly developing Hollywood resulted in demolition of the gardens by 1924, and the house in 1927.*^

Historical Notes

Highland Avenue was named after Highland Price, wife of Walter Price, the area’s blacksmith in the 1880s.+++

Historical Notes

Whitley Heights is a residential neighborhood in the Hollywood district named for Hobart Johnstone "HJ" Whitley, the "Father of Hollywood". Whitley Heights was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

In 1918, HJ Whitley commissioned architect A.S. Barnes to design Whitley Heights as a Mediterranean-style village on the steep hillsides above Hollywood Boulevard, and it became the first celebrity community. The neighborhood is roughly bordered on the north and east by Cahuenga Boulevard, on the west by Highland Avenue, and on the south by Franklin Avenue. It overlooks the tourist district of Hollywood, including the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and the Hollywood Bowl amphitheater. The neighborhood was bisected and some landmark homes destroyed when U.S. Route 101, a.k.a. the Hollywood Freeway, was built after World War II.

Among Whitley Heights' many famous residents have been Rudolph Valentino, Barbara Stanwyck, W.C. Fields, Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, William Powell, Tyrone Power, Ellen Pompeo, Gloria Swanson, Rosalind Russell, Judy Garland, and Marlene Dietrich.*^

Historical Notes

The highest peak in the background is Mt. Hollywood with an elevation of 1,657 feet.

Historical Notes

In September 1903, a two-room school was opened on the second floor of an empty storeroom at the Masonic Temple on Highland Avenue, north of Hollywood Boulevard (then Prospect Avenue). Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality in November 1903

Historical Notes

The original school building (above) opened in 1905 and consisted of the consolidated school districts of Hollywood City, Laurel, Coldwater, Lankershim, Los Feliz, Cahuenga, and The Pass.

In 1910, Los Angeles and Hollywood consolidated and the high school was turned over to the L.A. Board of Education.*

Click HERE to see the complete list of Notable alumni.*^

Historical Notes

The large house in the lower-right, southeast corner of Franklin Avenue and Orange Drive, still stands today. Although modified over the years, it now houses the The American Society of Cinematographers.^^^

Historical Notes

Hollywood High School was built on Sunset and Highland Avenue in 1905. In 1910, the school had its name changed to Hollywood Union High School. In 1924, the school changed its name again to Union High School. In 1940, the school had its name changed back to Hollywood High School and it was used for housing and feeding WWII soldiers.^^

Historical Notes

The Hollywood High School campus was established on its current site in 1904. The original Administration / Classroom Building was completed in 1905, and the first major campus expansion campaign concluded in 1913.*^#^

Historical Notes

*Selma Avenue was named after Selma Weid, daughter of Ivar Weid.

Ivar Weid, one of the early pioneers and owner of the Weid Ranch, is given credit by some for coming up with the name “Hollywood”. Ivar Street is named after him.

Historical Notes

The forty-nine acre estate known as the Wattles Estate included a mansion, known as "Jualita," and large formal garden and was developed by Gordon W. Wattles, a wealthy banker and railway company president from Omaha, Nebraska.*

Historical Notes

The home and garden are the work of architects Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey. The property was bounded on the south by Hollywood Blvd. and on the west by Curson Avenue and the east by Sierra Bonita Avenue. The rise of the property from the south to the foothills in the north was 1000 feet.*

Historical Notes

The gardens were later turned over to Hollywood Heritage, Inc., which rented the building for private functions, such as weddings and film shoots.*

Historical Notes

Melrose Avenue was named by ranch owner E. A. McCarthy after his hometown of Melrose, Mass. The McCarthy Ranch occupied most of the area bounded by Western to Wilton and Melrose to Santa Monica Blvd.^*^

Historical Notes

Before 1910, the above area was part of the town of Colegrove.  In 1907 the Los Angeles Pacific Railway reached Colegrove, connecting the town with Los Angeles by electric trolley. As the town's population swelled, its vast lemon groves gave way to houses. But citriculture continued to sustain the town; in 1906, for instance, it was still home to 285 acres of lemon groves, and that year Colegrove Lemon Exchange dispatched some 17.4 million lemons to places like Minneapolis and Omaha in refrigerated railcars.*#^

Historical Notes

At one time the above building was also a Chinese laundry.*

Historical Notes

Here the Sacketts ran the first hotel in the Cahuenga Valley and the second general merchandising establishment within the corporate limits of Hollywood. He also kept a few horses for his clientele and to work the blocks east and south of the store, where he had a garden to sell produce in his store.

Due to competition from the new Hollywood Hotel, built two years earlier at the northwest corner of Prospect and Highland, Sackett closed his hotel in 1905. He sold the property to Henry Gillig, but it remained unoccupied for the next five years except for one store room on the first floor.

Click HERE to see more Early Views of the Sackett Hotel.

Historical Notes

In 1910, J.P. Creque, one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood, bought the former Sackett Hotel property for $28,000 from the estate of Henry Gillig, who was now deceased. Creque razed the abandoned hotel and erected a fireproof two-story cream brick structure that cost approximately $30,000. +#

Historical Notes

The Hollywood National Bank leased a portion of the new building; there were three other stores facing on Prospect. The second floor had offices with wide hallways and tile flooring. +#

Historical Notes

In 1934, the Creque Building was enlarged by adding two stories and given its current Art-Deco brick-and-tile redesign. It is now called 'The Hollywood Building'.

Click HERE for a more contemporary view.

Historical Notes

The Babylon set from D.W. Griffith's silent film "Intolerance", was built at the corner of Prospect Ave. & Talmadge St. in Franklin Hills near where Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard meet.

Historical Notes

Source of photo is Ebay with the following comment:

"This photo taken by my Grandmother about 1914 of my father (age 3 or 4) next the the family Ford Touring Car parked on Vermont Ave at Hollywood Blvd in front of his dad's store, viewing north on Vermont toward Griffith Park and the Hollywood Hills, Southern California. This and other photos were reprinted by my father in the early 1950s for local newspaper articles on the history of East Hollywood. This image is from one of a few sets of these original gelatin silver images he printed from the original negatives. The photos were taken by my grandparents between 1902 and 1918."

Historical Notes

On October 27, 1911, Nestor Studios, established by David Horseley, opened the first movie studio actually located in the Hollywood area. It was at the Blondeau Tavern building on the northwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street.*^

The Nestor Company leased the building for thirty dollars a month, and built the first Hollywood film stage ever on the site. It consisted of a wooden platform measuring twenty by forty feet, with large sheets of muslin hung on cross wires fifteen feet up to diffuse the natural light used for filming.^#

Historical Notes

Carl Laemmle, who formed Universal Pictures, absorbed the Nestor company and others in 1912. Director Al Christie continued to make many films at the expanded studio under the banner "The Christie Comedies" until the early 30s, when the facility became a rented lot.

In 1936, the Nestor / Christie Studios were demolished to build the Columbia Square facility, which served as home of Los Angeles radio station KNX 1070AM, and television station KNXT Channel 2 (later renamed KCBS) until 2007.

Historical Notes

In 2014, Viacom leased most of the space in one of the new office buildings on the site, for the West Coast offices of its cable television networks, including MTV, Comedy Central, BET, TV Land and Spike TV. Columbia Square is now mixed-use residential and office space.

Historical Notes

The Chateau-style residence was built in 1909 by banker, real estate developer and philanthropist, Rollin B. Lane. The house was designed by architects Lyman Farwell and Oliver Dennis and constructed as a near duplicate of the 1897 Kimberly Crest House and Gardens in Redlands, California that the architects had designed over a decade earlier.^

Historical Notes

The Gothic Renaissance chateau (also referred to as “Holly Chateau”) sits in the middle of what is now historic Hollywood and was originally the personal residence of a wealthy banker, Rollin B. Lane.

Historical Notes

Rollin Lane was a very successful lawyer, banker and real estate investor who helped build Hollywood through property development and participation on the historic Hollywood Board of Trade. He also invested heavily in the early development of the nearby San Fernando Valley and in California’s San Joaquin Valley. ^

Historical Notes

Katherine Lane (Rollin's wife) was a college graduate, published author, teacher and lecturer who worked to improve the quality of life in Hollywood through various community service organizations, even serving a term as president of the Woman’s Club of Hollywood. Later, working with the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and supported by a small army of volunteers, she promoted the planting of the landmark palm trees that line Wilshire Blvd., as well as hundreds of Japanese cherry trees in and around Griffith Park. ^

Historical Notes

Ownership of the building remained in the Lane family until 1955 when it was sold to Thomas O. Glover, whose family still owns the property.

Historical Notes

The Lanes named their home “Holly Chateau” and for thirty years, it was one of the most recognized addresses in Hollywood and a popular location for the area’s social elite. Hundreds of newspaper articles attest to the elegant and elaborate luncheons, teas and musicales held for artists, orphans, community leaders or world travelers, or to raise funds for one of Katherine’s many civic projects. ^

Historical Notes

The 1914 hilltop estate seen behind and above the Lane Residence was built to house the Bernheimers' priceless collection of Asian treasures. In order to have an authentic Japanese design, hundreds of skilled craftsmen were brought from Asia to recreate an exact replica of a palace located in the Yamashiro mountains near Kyoto, Japan. The original Bernheimer structure included a 10-room teak and cedar mansion, where carved rafters were lacquered in gold and tipped with bronze dragons.

Historical Notes

After the Lanes passed away in the 1940’s, the house was divided into a multi-family home. It then became a home for the elderly and was finally transformed into a maze of small apartments. By 1960, the fate of the building was uncertain. Then Milt Larsen met the owner, Thomas O. Glover.

Milt was a writer on the NBC-TV show Truth or Consequences. His office was on the ninth floor of a Hollywood office building that overlooked the Lane residence. Milt’s late father, William W. Larsen Sr., was a renowned magician and had long dreamed of building an elegant private clubhouse for magicians.

The Lane residence would become that club. In September 1961, Milt, his brother Bill (an accomplished magician, publisher of Genii Magazine and the Academy’s first President), Irene (Bill’s wife) and a crew of friends and volunteers began the task of returning this run-down apartment building to its glorious past. After months of scraping and sanding, the rich Victorian elegance began to resurface.  The Magic Castle opened its doors on January 2, 1963. ^

Historical Notes

The Magic Castle was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 406 in 1989.

Historical Notes

Since 1963, the Magic Castle has been a nightclub for magicians and magic enthusiasts, as well as the clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts. It bills itself as "the most unusual private club in the world."

Historical Notes

At the turn of the century, after striking it rich in the Nevada silver mines, Dr. Schloesser and his family moved to Hollywood, where the doctor built Glengarry, a copy of his wife's ancestral home in Inverness, Scotland. Soon this castle proved too small for his burgeoning social life and medical practice. So in 1912, he built Schloesser Terrace (Castle Sans Souci) on a three-acre plot across the street (NW corner of Argyle and Franklin avenues).*#

Historical Notes

He was originally called Dr. Alfred Guido Rudolph Schloesser, but during World War I, due to anti-German sentiment, he changed it to Castles, a direct translation from the name Schloesser.

Historical Notes

The Glengarry Castle was demolished in 1959.*

Click HERE for contemporary view of the NE corner of Franklin and Argyle.

Historical Notes

Dr. Castles originally lived in Glengarry Castle (NE corner of Argyle and Franklin). But that 'home' soon proved too small for his burgeoning social life and medical practice. So in 1912, he built Castle Sans Souci on a three-acre plot across the street (NW corner of Argyle and Franklin).

Historical Notes

The Tudor-Gothic style castle contained twenty-three rooms and included a Baronial Hall and a Louis XV drawing room. Two lions made of Carrara marble, 144 years old, adorned the entrance to the castle, and also bear the Schloesser coat of arms.  These lions formerly adorned the entrance to the palace of the last Doge of Venice.*

Historical Notes

He was originally called Dr. Alfred Guido Rudolph Schloesser, but during World War I, due to anti-German sentiment, he changed it to Castles, a direct translation from the name Schloesser.

As an investment, the eccentric Dr. Castles, who always wore a frock coat, heavy makeup and top hat, tore down Sans Souci and built Castle Argyle Arms Apartments in 1928, attracting a new breed of royalty: movie makers. Guests there over the next two decades were to include Clark Gable, Howard Hughes, Ronald Reagan and Cecil B. DeMille.*#

Historical Notes

In 1912 Charles Mann, a realtor, and Richard Shoemaker, an engineer, introduced these trackless trolleys to stimulate land sales in Laurel Canyon. The trolleys operated from Sunset Blvd. to the Tavern at the junction of Laurel Canyon and Lookout Mt. Road.^^

Mann and his partners bought property along Laurel Canyon Boulevard and up in the hills. Some of the first tracts to be developed in the Lookout Mountain bowl were Bungalow Land and Wonderland Park, both of which were moderately priced with narrow lots and a network of interconnecting lanes and foot paths. #^*

Historical Notes

The trolley was actually a large automobile (1912 Oldsmobiles) converted to run on an electric engine connected to overhead wires, which frequently dislodged. It had an approximate 10-passenger capacity. After about 5 years of traveling up and down the treacherous narrow road, the poor old trolley buses fell apart.

The overhead wires came down and the service was replaced by Stanley Steamers about 1915. **^*

Historical Notes

The trolley ran along Laurel Canyon's dirt road and connected Sunset Boulevard to the base of the current Lookout Mountain Avenue where there was a small inn. The Laurel Tavern served lunch to tourists and prospective customers of Mann's Bungalow Land properties. The ride cost 10¢. More adventurous travelers could continue up Lookout Mountain Avenue for a breathtaking view of Hollywood from the area around the current Appian Way.#*

Historical Notes

By 1913, Mann began operating what was billed as the nation’s first trackless trolley, to ferry tourists and prospective buyers from Sunset Boulevard up to what would become the corner of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Lookout Mountain Avenue. Mann built a massive tavern/roadhouse on that very same corner. Dubbed the Laurel Tavern, the structure boasted a 2,000+ square-foot formal dining room, guest rooms, and a bowling alley on the basement level. The Laurel Tavern, would later be acquired by Tom Mix, after which it would be known as the Log Cabin.*#*#

Historical Notes

In 1910, Charles Mann and his partners built a narrow road leading up to the crest of Lookout Mountain.  Upon that crest they constructed a lavish 24-room inn with sweeping views of the city below and the Pacific Ocean beyond. The Lookout Inn featured a large ballroom, riding stables, tennis courts and a golf course, among other amenities.

Historical Notes

After completing Laurel Tavern and Lookout Inn, two rather unusual structures anchoring an otherwise undeveloped canyon,  Mann set about marketing the canyon as a vacation and leisure destination. The land that he carved up into subdivisions with names like “Bungalow Land” and “Wonderland Park” was presented as the ideal location to build vacation homes. But the new inn and roadhouse, and the new parcels of land for sale, definitely weren’t for everyone. The roadhouse was essentially a country club. Bungalow Land was openly advertised as “a high class restricted park for desirable people only.”^

Historical Notes

Wide verandas on three sides of the main structure offered 270-degree views of the lowlands below and the ocean beyond. Guests, paid $15 per week for room and board.

Charles Mann, the original developer of Laurel Canyon, is not the same Charles Mann who founded the real estate office at Kirkwood and Laurel Canyon Blvd, and there is no relation. Just a coincidence of history.

Historical Notes

The Lookout Mountain Inn met a fiery end on October 26, 1918, after only eight years of business. A brush fire reportedly started by a group of boys cooking sausages in the foothills raced up the canyons and reduced the wooden structure to charcoal. It was never rebuilt. Today, a six-bedroom, 9,300-square-foot house occupies the site, its once-famous views hidden behind security gates and privacy walls.*

Historical Notes

After being taken over by L.A.F.D. it was designated Hose Co #7.  The old building had originally been a church.  When Eng. Co #27 was established in 1912, Hose Co #7 was abandoned.

At the time of Annexation it was necessary to retain the former Hollywood Fire Chief (Joe Shill) to drive, as there was no one else at that time who could drive an automobile.^#*

Historical Notes

The vehicle above is a 1908 Tourist hose wagon built in Los Angeles.  Later assigned shop number 35, this was the first LAFD motorized apparatus.^#* 

Historical Notes

The Cahuenga Branch Library was built with a $35,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie. Constructed in 1916, it was intended to serve a community of workers in the then nearby orange and avocado groves and wheat fields.*

Historical Notes

The Italian Renaissance style building was designed by architect Clarence H. Russell (1874-1942), who also was associated with Norman F. Marsh in the building of Venice and its canals.

The floor plan of the library was known as the “butterfly” type, containing two reading rooms, one on each side of a central entrance, desk, and stack room. The building contained 8,474 square feet of floor space on two floors. Besides the children’s and adult reading rooms, there were an auditorium, a room for children’s story hours, a staff room, and even an open air reading room.*

Historical Notes

The 1916-built Cahuenga Branch is the third oldest branch library in the Los Angeles Public Library system. It is one of three surviving Carnegie libraries in Los Angeles, the other two being the Vermont Square Branch and the Lincoln Heights Branch.

In 1986, the Cahuenga Branch Library was designated as LA Historic-Cultural Monument No. 314. It is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Click HERE to see the complete list of LA Historical Cultural Monuments.

Historical Notes

In 1916, Adolph Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. The new company Lasky and Zukor founded, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, grew quickly, with Lasky and his partners Goldwyn and DeMille running the production side, Hiram Abrams in charge of distribution, and Zukor making great plans. Famous Players-Lasky and its "Paramount Pictures" soon dominated the business.*^

Historical Notes

Zukor signed and developed many of the leading early stars, including Mary Pickford, Marguerite Clark, Pauline Frederick, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and Wallace Reid. With so many important players, Paramount was able to introduce "block booking", which meant that an exhibitor who wanted a particular star's films had to buy a year's worth of other Paramount productions. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, but which led the government to pursue it on antitrust grounds for more than twenty years.*^

Click HERE to see more Early Views of Paramount.

Historical Notes

 In 1911, Albert Beach paved the way to the Hollywood Hills and named "Beachwood Drive" after himself.

On May 16, 1916, Hollywood participated in the world celebration of William Shakespeare's 300th birthday. A star-studded performance of "Julius Caesar" was mounted in the huge outdoor natural amphitheater at the top of Beachwood Drive (where the Beachwood Market and Village is now). #***

Historical Notes

The former Hollywood Theatre was opened on December 20, 1913 as a silent movie palace in the rapidly emerging Hollywood Theater district. It was designed in a Romanesque style, by architects Kremple & Erkes. The facade had glazed brick. The lobby was in marble tile and the auditorium was decorated with Corinthian columns and a coffered ceiling. In September 1923, a Wurlitzer organ, Opus 697 was installed.

Historical Notes

Opened in 1913, this was Hollywood's second theatre and had an initial admission price of 10 cents. The facade was of white glazed brick with marble tile in the lobby. The auditorium featured Corinthian columns and a coffered ceiling. The owner of the project was H.L. Lewis. The Idle Hour had been the first theatre to open in Hollywood, in late 1910 or early 1911.

Historical Notes

Idle Wives is a 1916 American silent drama film co-directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley. The film was released by Universal Film Manufacturing Company. Surviving reels of the film are preserved at the Library of Congress. The film was released on DVD/Blu-ray in 2018.

Historical Notes

In 1936 the Hollywood Theatre got a renovation and redesign by S. Charles Lee where the original white brick façade was replaced with a deco version (see next photo).

Note the beautiful two-lamp ornate streetlight in front of the theater.  These were, and still are, called ‘Metropolitan’ streetlights.  They were developed especially for Hollywood, but ultimately found their way onto the "best" streets of surrounding communities.  The ‘Metropolitan’ is still quite common in Hollywood almost a century after they first appeared (Click HERE to see more).

Historical Notes

Designed originally in 1913 by architects Kremple and Erkes, the theater got a remodel in 1927 by Clifford Balch.  Another renovation and redesign by S. Charles Lee occurred in 1936 where the original white brick façade was replaced with a deco version. The signage currently on the building is from that remodel.  A final remodel took place in 1977.  In the early 1990s, the theatre became a venue for the Guinness Book of World Records.

Historical Notes

The Iris Theatre opened in 1918, as the second theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.  It was built by P. Tabor who employed architect Frank Meline, to design a Romanesque style theatre, with a brick façade.

The distinction of being the first movie theater in Hollywood goes to the Idyl Hour Theater. Located at 6525 Hollywood Boulevard, it was established in either late 1910 or early 1911. During its first year the theater was little more than a converted store with chairs, a projector and a screen. The Idyl Hour Theater, whose name changed to the Iris Theater in 1913, moved to 6415 Hollywood Blvd. in 1914, and to a new 1000-seat theater at 6508 Hollywood Blvd. in 1918.

Historical Notes

The Iris theatre was redesigned by architect S. Charles Lee in July 1934 and was given an Art Deco style.  Fox Theater took over in 1965, and they remodeled the Streamline Moderne facade in 1969 into what we still see today.

Historical Notes

In 1917, a neighborhood survey was taken. The population was mostly white and blue-collar Anglo; of 2,017 families surveyed only 58 were immigrants or non-white (Black and Japanese). The area was residential, with single family homes predominating. Commercial activities were limited to small neighborhood business. However, the growing movie industry was present; the Fine Art Studios where, among other films, Intolerance was made, occupied the site of the present Safeway Market at Virgil and Sunset; Kalem Co. and Mabel Normand Studios were on Hyperion near Fountain, and the William Fox Studios on Sunset and Western Avenue.

Historical Notes

Sam Seelig Company was founded in April 1912 by Sam Seelig, who had come to California from Arizona in 1911. Seelig opened a single grocery store in Los Angeles at the corner of Pico and Figueroa streets. The chain had grown to 71 stores by 1922. After World War I, the firm became deeply indebted to its main grocery wholesaler, a firm owned by W.R.H. Weldon. In a swap of stock for debt, Weldon assumed control of the chain, leaving Seelig in charge of retail operations. Seelig then left the company in 1924 to enter the real estate business, forming Sam Seelig Realty.

As a result of Seelig's departure, the company held a contest in 1925 to develop a new name, the result of which was Safeway. The original slogan was "an admonition and an invitation" to "Drive the Safeway; Buy the Safeway.” The point of the name was that the grocery operated on a cash-and-carry basis; it did not offer credit, as had been traditional for grocers. It was the "safe way" to buy because a family could not get into debt via its grocery bill (as many families did, especially during the Great Depression). By 1926, Safeway Stores had 322 stores centered in Southern California.

Historical Notes

Coming from Greece, Alex Williams arrived in Hollywood in 1915; the same year, D.W. Griffith turned movies into motion pictures with The Birth of a Nation. Griffith made his movie at Triangle Studios at Sunset and Virgil. Alex Williams set up business with two brothers-in-law named Linardos at Sunset and Gordon, next to the Poverty Row studios. It wasn’t the movies, but The Linardos Brothers Market sold groceries to them along with anyone else in the neighborhood.

Historical Notes

The school with a student body of 2500 was three blocks from Charlie Chaplin's studio and six blocks from Mary Pickford's and Douglas Fairbanks' studios. The homes bordering the upper side of the campus were just condemned by the city to make room for additional buildings. The original 1905 building is on the bottom right, the Household & Fine Arts building is in the middle of the quadrangle, and the gymnasium is top, center.*

Historical Notes

The above photo is a still from a 1919 silent short called “Waiting at the Church”.

Historical Notes

The above farm is where the Hollywood Frwy crosses Melrose Avenue today. Just to the west and out of view is the location of the McCarthy Ranch. In 1887 E. A. McCarthy named Melrose Avenue after his hometown of Melrose, Mass.

Historical Notes

In 1896 Griffith J. Griffith donated over 3000 acres of Rancho Los Felis to the City of Los Angeles to create a public park in his name. Mount Hollywood, the highest peak of the park, rises to an elevation of 1640 feet. Griffith Park was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument  No. 942 in 2009 (Click HERE to see complete listing).*

Historical Notes

Howard Hughes acquired the Cahuenga Peak and surrounding acreage in the 1940 with plans to build a house for his love interest, actress Ginger Rogers. Rogers broke up their engagement, so the area was left undeveloped.

In 2002, a group of Chicago-area investors named Fox River Financial Resources purchased the 138 acres parcel along the ridge including Cahuenga Peak from the Hughes Estate for $1,675,000 according to Los Angeles County property records. The investors considered constructing five luxury estates on the property.

Los Angeles city officials said City Hall had received hundreds of letters pleading for the peak's protection, which prompted a campaign by city leaders and conservationists to raise $6,000,000 which they thought would be sufficient to buy Cahuenga Peak and turn it into an extension of nearby Griffith Park.

On February 13, 2008, Chicago investment firm Fox River Financial Resources released plans to sell the property for $22 million. That same month, The Trust for Public Land launched the Save Cahuenga Peak campaign to purchase the land from the investment firm for $12.5 million. As part of the campaign they draped the Hollywood Sign so that it read "SAVE THE PEAK". On April 26 it was announced that the campaign was successful. Though funds came from many sources, including $1.7 million in public money, it was the final hour donations of $500,000 from The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and Aileen Getty and $900,000 from Hugh Hefner that enabled the purchase. In July 2010, 100 acres around Cahuenga Peak was officially added to Griffith Park.*^

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