I do love finding a photo of the RKO studios, especially when it was taken at the corner of Gower St and Melrose Ave and their iconic globe with the radio tower was still in place. And the fact that it’s in color is the (bright red) cherry on top. For years, RKO advertised their big releases on the billboards placed on the wall of the soundstage that ran along Gower. When this was taken, their big picture was the John-Wayne-starring, Josef-von-Sternberg-directed “Jet Pilot” whose LA premiere was held on September 25, 1957, and was the final picture von Sternberg directed. There wouldn’t be many billboards after this one – 1957 was the year RKO ceased production.
This is how that view looked in December 2002. The RKO lot is now part of Paramount. The soundstage is their Stage 21. RKO’s globe is still there, but the radio tower is long gone. (Probably because it’s an earthquake hazard.) They still have billboards, but Dr. Phil isn’t quite the same.
Exactly 100 years ago today, on April 26, 1924, Metro Pictures merged with Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to form what would become the movie industry titan, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This photo shows employees of the new studio gathering for the ceremony while a Naval band played. Those three men on the platform holding a giant key marked “SUCCESS” were Harry Rapf (movie producer) on the left, Irving Thalberg (production chief) on the right, and studio head Louis B. Mayer in the middle. What most people don’t know is that on this date, the studio’s name was officially Metro-Goldwyn. Mayer’s name wasn’t added until a year later. But all three men were determined to make MGM the most prestigious movie studio in Hollywood – and by golly they succeeded.
In this 1939 photo, we’re looking north up Vermont Ave toward a LARy (LA Railway) streetcar turning west onto 3rd Street. The thing that worries me the most in this photo is the man in safety island. Apart from that six-inch barrier at the end closest to us, there doesn’t seem to be much that’s safe about it. One false move and he’s a goner.
The crowd in this photo had gathered on the roof of the Los Angeles Post Office Terminal Annex on the outskirts of downtown LA to watch this Los Angeles Airways helicopter take off. October 1, 1947 was a special day because it was the inaugural flight of what was soon to become a twice-a-day mail service shuttling between the main post office and LA International Airport, thus cutting down the time it took for airmail to reach the letter boxes of Angelenos. It’s a good thing nothing went awry because that’s a lot of people standing not too far away!
Regular viewers of this site will know that I do enjoy an atmospheric night shot, and this one ticks all the boxes: A towering blade sign glowing in the dark, a huge marquee filled with the very packed shows that movie houses used to offer back then, the neon sign of Frank Fink’s Intimate Apparel, and—my favorite detail—the automobile parked out front caught in silhouette. This photo was taken during the run of MGM’s Norma Shearer vehicle “Let Us Be Gay” which came out in August 1930.
At first glance, I assumed this nighttime photo looking west up Hollywood Blvd from around Highland Ave was of the annual Christmas parade, but on further research, I found something far more interesting had been happening. On the night of November 7, 1947, a train of 12 boxcars left Los Angeles. It was known as the Friendship Train, and each of the boxcars were loaded with food donations for a war-weary, food-starved Europe. Over the next month, the Friendship Train wound its way across America, adding more and more boxcars loaded with donations. At the same time, a second train called the Freedom Train, was doing the same thing. By the time the first (of four) boats left New York for Europe on December 7, 1947, over $40 million worth of supplies had been collected. And with Harry M. Warner from Warner Bros. as chair of the Friendship Train Committee, leave it to Hollywood to kick off the whole endeavor with spectacular fanfare.
In this circa WWII color photo, we’re looking east across Vine St to the NBC radio studios on the northeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine St in Hollywood. I’m guessing it was taken around WWII because of those sailors crossing the street (and that cute little kid in his dixie cup hat!) This era was the peak of commercial broadcast radio, and NBC was one of the most important studios, with many of the Top Ten shows in the country being made there. Many of those shows would have live audiences, so this corner was always busy with people eager to see their favorite stars.
These days, what is known as the Sunset-Gower studios used to be home to Columbia Pictures. But back when this photo was taken in 1934, Columbia hadn’t yet swallowed up all the shooting stages between Gower St and Beachwood Drive. The sign atop this two-story building on Beachwood Drive reads “Western Pictures Corporation.” Before that it was called “California Studio” which was home to many, many film companies, most of them fly-by-nighters whom I’ve never heard of.
Yesterday, after I posted a 
Decades before it became a Guinness World Records Museum, Hollywood Theatre was an popular movie house at 6764 Hollywood Blvd just east of Highland Ave. In this photo, 20th Century-Fox’s “My Gal Sal” was on a double bill with Paramount’s “The Great Man’s Lady,” both of which came out in 1942. But what I love most about this photo is seeing its neighbors. You could have dinner at Italian Kitchen restaurant, drop by See’s Candies for some munchies, then browse in the Hollywood Book Store, until it’s movie time at the Hollywood Theatre. That’s a whole evening’s entertainment on one short block.