Copyright ©2011 BL Press LLC
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the copyright holder.
Hard cover edition published by BL Press LLC in 2005
For ordering information or special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Greenleaf Book Group LLC at PO Box 91869, Austin, TX 78709, 512.891.6100.
eISBN: 978-0-9776299-3-0
Ebook Edition
The photographs included in this book have been reproduced with permission of:
The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
The Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
University of California at Los Angeles, Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.
Security Pacific Collection/Los Angeles Public Library.
Courtesy of University of Southern California, on behalf of the USC Specialized Libraries and Archival Collections.
Bancroft Library, University of (California, Berkeley (1964.056:52-pic & 63-pic).
Taliesen Fellowship: Frank Lloyd Wright drawings are copyright ©1999 The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ.
A film crew shoots a scene on Beachwood Drive. Columbia Studios (on the left) would later incorporate the street onto its production lot.
PHOTO CREDITS
Every effort has been made to obtain permission and give credit for photographs and textual material used in this book. We apologize for any omissions and oversights that may have occurred and pledge to make corrections on any subsequent editions.
American Society of Cinematographers: 80, 81
Arc Linkletter Productions: 300
Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley: 39, 46
Bison Archives, Marc Wanamaker: 9, 18, 20, 21, 59, 61, 82, 83, 86, 90, 97, 101, 119, 129, 207, 230, 233, 242, 264, 270, 291, 293, 295, 298, 299, 321, 323, 333, 348
Century Archives, Gene Hilchey: 82, 102
Cloud Greg: 282, 312, 331, 337, 339, 342, 344, 346, 349, u351, 354, 359
Cobb, Sally: 261
Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee: 57, 71, 88, 110, 129, 149, 150, 183, 228, 239, 241, 252, 310, 337
Edwards, Ralph: 288
Gould, Max: 328
Heimann, Jim: 20, 35, 65, 69, 74, 81, 93, 95, 98, 100, 116, 117, 120, 125, 127, 128, 131, 135, 136, 139, 194, 141, 142, 145, 147, 148, 155, 167, 168, 171, 184, 187, 202, 203, 208, 225, 226, 233, 235, 249, 261, 270, 273, 274, 285, 289, 295, 302, 313, 325, 350
Herman, Fran: 321
Hollywood Beverly Christian Church: 39
Hollywood Citizen (Los Angeles Public Library): 119, 176
Hollywood photographs.com: 29, 30, 44, 69, 99, 109, 118, 122, 134, 136, 137, 156, 212, 216, 305, 306, 307, 324
Huntington Library: 7, 25, 32, 53, 141, 156
Larry Edmund’s Bookstore: 86
Los Angeles Public Library/Security Pacific
Collection: 5, 8, 12, 15, 18, 21, 25, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 37, 39, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 50, 52, 60, 68, 70, 74, 77, 82, 84, 89, 94, 97, 99, 100, 101, 105, 107, 109, 112, 113, 117, 127, 133, 139, 142, 143, 151, 152, 157, 159, 182, 200, 245, 250, 251, 254, 255, 278, 288, 294, 297, 298, 300, 303, 325, 329, 334
MGM Art Dept.: 116
Morgan Camera Shop: 315, 316, 318, 319, 322, 332, 333, 336, 347, 361
McCarthy, Eugene: 340
Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences: 35, 56, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, 85, 86, 92, 95, 96, 164, 165, 178, 210, 211, 223, 244, 250, 263, 296, 303, 321
National Building Museum: 201
Seaver Center for Western History Research
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: 15, 28, 64, 86, 125, 135, 136, 158, 265
Screen Actors Guild: 281
Skinner, Georja: 269
Taliesen Fellowship: 284
UCLA Special Collections: 24, 50, 126, 161, 162, 184, 204, 206, 209, 274, 276, 287, 299, 304, 305, 308, 326, 327, 330, 331, 337, 346, 347, 364
University of California Santa Barbara: 205
University of Southern California Regional History Center: 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33, 37, 38, 40, 41, 51, 54, 55, 74, 78, 88, 99, 102, 105, 118, 125, 127, 128, 132, 145, 146, 149, 158, 169, 177, 191, 226, 238, 255, 260, 261, 294, 301, 305
Watson, Delmar: 34, 85, 286, 287, 289, 290, 320, 336
Wesselmann Collection, Williams Partnership: 1, 4, 11, 12, 14, 25, 61, 63, 66, 67, 84, 91, 97, 98, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 111, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 122, 123, 124, 125, 130, 131, 133, 135, 143, 144, 147, 151, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 162, 163, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 172, 173, 174, 175, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 213, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225, 227, 228, 229, 231, 232, 234, 235, 236, 237, 240, 241, 242, 243, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 265, 266, 267, 269, 268, 275, 276, 277, 279, 280, 283, 312, 331, 338, 340, 341, 357, 358, 363
Whelan, Robert: 6, 8, 18, 31, 36, 47, 48, 49, 58, 62, 70, 93, 100, 121, 156, 309, 319, 370
Williams Partnership, Private Collection: 3, 4, 6, 10, 26, 27, 39, 44, 49, 53, 57, 63, 64, 65, 72, 79, 83, 84, 107, 110, 120, 129, 130, 138, 140, 150, 189, 203, 226, 246, 264, 267, 271, 285, 286, 289, 291, 292, 295, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 317, 318, 319, 320, 325, 328, 329, 331, 332, 333, 334, 336, 339, 340, 341, 342, 344, 347, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 365, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 387
Woodd, Jeanne: 234
Ginger Rogers accepts Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Kitty Foyle, 1940. With her is presenter Lynn Fontanne.
CONTENTS
1. In the Valley of the Cahuengas
The Land and Its First People
Camino Real
Among the Nopal
First Homesteaders
The Pass Road
Nopalera Here We Come!
The Birth of Prospect
The Frostless Belt
Mrs. Hollywood
A Man and His Map
Lemon Lane
Hollywood or Bust
2. A City of Homes
1900
Prospecting Prospect
Touring the Town
Le Roi des Fleurs
Gem of the Foothills
Highlanders versus Cahuengans
Come All Ye Faithful
Short Story of a City
The Center of Hollywood
More Minor Mansions
Mrs. Kimball’s Gong
Bye-Bye Boom Town
3. “No Dogs, No Movies”
Iris In
The Curious Doctor Schloesser
El Camino Real Estate
One Door Closes
Welcome to Oz
Go West, Young Movies
Movies Mean Development
1914
We Hate Actors
Home to the Stars
Cash Registers Ring
Hollywood Blossoms
Movies Become Motion Pictures
Over the Rainbow
Hollywood versus Huns
Up or Out
4. Main Street of the Movies
See the Stars
Going Hollywood
The Empire Builders
Welcome to Babylon
1922
Downtown Movieland
Hating Hollywood
The Rain of Money
Hollywood Hangs Out<
br />
Just Like New York
Two on the Aisle
March of the Movies
Glancing Back
The Fat of the Land
Movie Palaces
The Lowest and the Highest
Twilight in Tinseltown
5. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Hollywood Skids Run Faster
Picking Up the Pieces
Main Street Struggles
Avenue of the Stars
Kook Town
The Dream Dies Hard
Style Center of the World
Dollar Days
Movies, Premieres and Ballyhoo
Star Party
The Literati Meet the Underworld
The Skids Run Faster
6. Radio Days
Just a Weak Signal
Radio Arrives
The Big Broadcast
On the Street
It’s Music City
The Dawn of War
War Years
Stars’ War
Christmas Time
Unrest and Disappointment
The Center of Show Business
TV Land
A Golden Autumn
Boosters, Dreamers and the Forgotten
7. Lost Hollywood
Does Hollywood Need Improvement?
The Sixties
The Seventies
Darker Days
It Came to Conquer Hollywood
Fighting Blight
Railroad to Noho
The Early Nineties
Tinseltown Goes to Hell
Helping Hands
The Hollywood Treatment
New Hollywood
Fade Out
Bibliography
Index
Maps
To my mother,
Barbara Lee Turner Williams
Robert Cummings and Marsha Hunt sign autographs in front of the Vine Street Brown Derby
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My father Dino Williams was the main catalyst in producing this book. He pushed the work forward tirelessly, spending countless hours organizing photos, reviewing the writing and organizing its publication. This book would not exist if Dino had not kept the faith.
I owe Jim Heimann a huge debt of gratitude for his passion and commitment to documenting L.A.’s past and his generosity with his collection of historical paper and photographs. Jim also helped so much with the design of this book.
I thank my Puppet Sutdio partner, Steve Sherman, who tolerated the hours I spent on this project. And special thanks goes to Georja Skinner who found us the way to publish this work.
My sister Alexa Williams gave a huge amount time and energy in the early stages of the book and I thank her for them. My uncle George Williams gave me the initial push into documenting Hollywood.
I thank the wonderful curators and librarians who helped during our research including Carolyn Kozo Cole at the Los Angeles Public Library, and Dacey Taube at the photo collection of the University of Southern California, Robert Cushman at Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Octavio Olvera at UCLA Special Collections.
For their support and encouragement, I thank:
Bob Baker, Marc Wanamaker, Bruce Simon, Richard Adkins, Delmar Watson, Robert Nudelman, the H. David Smith Family: Dave, Alene, Susan, David, Candy, Julie; the Skinner family: George, Pearl, Georja, Teresa; John Sparks, Kay Armour, Aaron Epstein, John Walsh, Chris Shabel, Ruth Goulet, Carol Goldstein, Victor Kemper, Stewart Romans, Bill Welsh, Irene Wyman, Nina Correa, Tina Gainsboro, Marsha Wilson, Virginia Dee, Jennie Woodd, Lloyd Gilliom, Margo Ewing, Harry Williams, Dena Williams, Sally Cobb, Christine Mills O’Brien, Vergie and Bill Papalexis, Alex Papalexis, Aggie Forgues, Carol Burnett, Sue Chadwick, Mark Finfer, Art Linkletter, Eleanor Parker, Rene Zendejas, Selma Stern, Johnny Grant, Don Selten, Mary Talkington, Susan Barnes, Aggie Forgues, Lee Mosier, Roger S. Baum, Phil Levine, David Morgan, Aaron Epstein, Robert Nudelman, Chris Shabel, Ruth Goulet, Ed Cohan, Kay Armour, David Morgan, Dolores Findley, Llandys Williams, Cally Caiozzo, Alexander Caiozzo, Pauline Caiozzo, Hollywoodland Homeowners Association, Hollywood Sign Trust, Dr. Judith Marquart, Taia and Peter Siphron, Joan Penfield, Jeanette and Jerry Bird, Hank and Dorothy Pinczower, Chad Harkins, Pat Ashenbrenner, Mary Talkington, Steve Vaught, Lenny Greenblatt, Valerie Yaros, Ed Cohan, Andrew Jordan, Matthew Lesniak, Charlene Baum, Leslie Hope, Andrew Doucette, Dr. Peggy Owen Clark, the Rose family: David, Ida, Marsha, Lisa; Dennis Poplin, and Nancy Copsey.
A special acknowledgment goes to Robert Blue who currently faces eminent domain at the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Not only will the surviving Herman Building be demolished, Bernard Luggage, one of the oldest remaining Hollywood retailers, will be forced to move. I thank my fellow members of the Hollywood PAC for helping me keep a sense of humor about this and more. David Morgan in particular taught me to laugh at the most outrageous bureaucratic behavior while opposing it.
When I started this project, David Morgan and my mother were alive to read the initial drafts. Although they have both passed on, I imagine that they are as happy as I am to see this work completed.
Hollywood Boulevard looking east from Orange Avenue, 1930.
Hollywood, California, gave movies their birthplace as large-scale, global entertainment. Since 1915, “Hollywood” has served as a synonym for professional, polished recorded entertainment. Hollywood originated the klieg-lit movie premiere, the Academy and Emmy Awards, and radio and television programs that brought stars and talent to audiences around the world.
Hollywood’s main street, Hollywood Boulevard, reflected that glory. At one time, newspapers and fan magazines climbed over themselves to create show-business nicknames for it: Main Street of the Movies, The Walk of Fame and Avenue of the Stars. Movie stars from 1912 to today walked, worked, or lived in Hollywood. The nation’s largest talent and advertising agencies as well as the most powerful performers and writers unions had their busy offices here during its golden heyday. Restaurants, stores and theaters catered to them and to the average person who came seeking Hollywood’s fabled mystique.
From a dusty few acres with notable weather, Hollywood grew into a small town that became one of the most famous places on Earth. Today, another battered district of Los Angeles, it undergoes urban renewal.
A late nineteenth-century photo of the Cahuenga Valley, taken near today’s Melrose and Normandie Avenues, shows the new farms with barley fields and clapboard houses. Mt. Lee, now with the Hollywood sign, is in the background. The Cahuenga Pass is left of center.
CHAPTER 1 IN THE VALLEY OF THE CAHUENGAS
Nopal cactus in the Hollywood hills, 2001.
THE LAND AND ITS FIRST PEOPLE
Hollywood occupies five miles of sloping ledge along the eastern curve of the Santa Monica Mountains. Protected from desert winds and exposed to sea breezes, the site has nearly perfect weather. It rarely freezes in Hollywood.
Around the area stand distinctive small hills called the Cahuengas. A fault line directly underneath Hollywood, appropriately called the Hollywood Fault, created this unusual topography. When you stand at Vine Street and Franklin Avenue, you are standing on the Hollywood Fault. The hills possess views of the southern basin that, an eon after their formation, have brought prosperity to generations of real estate people.
For a long, long time, until one hundred and thirty years ago, the land was hard earth and aromatic scrub brush. Large impenetrable patches of cactus, some growing seven feet tall were scattered across the plain. Wild sunflowers bloomed near Highland Avenue. A grove of alders filled the area between Gower Street and Ivar Avenue, providing a bit of shade from the hot sun.
The mountains north of Hollywood open into deep canyons. With larger canyons leading into smaller ones, they possessed great beauty in their natural state, filled with ferns and shady sycamores, or wide and sunny with oak and sage.
Winter rains in brief, heavy downpours filled deep cisterns in the mounta
ins that fed streams running through the canyons. The water flowed into a larger stream along today’s Franklin Avenue. Where Hollywood Boulevard meets Highland Avenue, an alluvial fan moved the water to a swampy lake in West Hollywood at Kings Road where it dispersed into methane-filled marshland that stretched to the ocean. In wet years, water ran year-round. To the unhappy surprise of engineers digging a subway under Hollywood Boulevard in 1994, enough underground water exists in Hollywood to support a large community.
The first people in the area were a Shoshone tribe named Gabrieleño by the Spanish. With 40 or so villages along the inland mountains from Laguna Beach to Malibu, a few families made their home in the Hollywood foothills wherever a stream ran. Two large groups lived at the southern entrance of Laurel Canyon and at the foot of Outpost Drive, once known as Sycamore Canyon. A family lived at the southern entrance to the Cahuenga Pass while another lived in lower Beachwood Canyon.
View of a Hollywood canyon, 2001.
Their communal trading village, Cabueg-na, stood on the north side of the hills next to the Los Angeles River. It is today’s Universal Studios. The first path in the area went to Cabueg-na through a notch in the hills that is now the Cahuenga Pass.
This southern side provided the community’s burial grounds near northwest Franklin and Sycamore Avenues. The council grounds at the foot of Ferndell were shared with a community called Maug-na located by the Los Angeles River in Los Feliz. The two communities used Ferndell for ceremonies where they smoked the local jimsonweed.
These gentle people had no enemies or predators. Compassionate and generous by nature, their social system allowed mutual survival and trade without hard work. They came southward into the scrub-filled plain mostly to hunt small animals. They ate anything but old coyotes. Wild plums, acorns, and seeds of the area provided their vegetable diet. They lived peacefully to comfortable old ages in a world that remained untouched for as long as any Pacific Island.
El Camino Real’s path through Hollywood (photo circa 1940).
CAMINO REAL
In 1769, the word Cahuenga was born. This unusual name was bastardized from the native Cabueg-na through the Franciscan brothers’ method of defining local areas when they could not, or would not, pronounce the Native American names. Cabueg-na became Cahuenga for the same reason Cucamog-na became Cucamonga.