California and the Hollywood Scene … Breanne E. A. Pancarik

by Breanne E. A. Pancarik

Introduction In the mid 1800’s, when you heard the words ‘Los Angeles,’ your first thought was of a desert suburbia in the southern half of California. The city was just beginning. There were no sweeping streets and stars on sidewalks. There were no grand mansions and famous buildings. There was no correlation with the dream to become famous attached to this region. Actors were looked down on, “flickers” were a fad, and “movies” was a derogatory term. In fact, the subdivision known to all the world as ‘Hollywood’ did not yet exist. The image of Hollywood today is vastly different from the vision back then. “If you had told the film pioneers that this desert suburb of scattered mansions, small bungalows, and pepper trees would turn into a world-famous place, they would have thought it was a joke.” Today you walk down Sunset Boulevard, see the Chinese Theater, and know that history lives on these streets. Beverly Hills is the home of the rich and famous. Movie studios line the avenues. Film and entertainment giants call Los Angeles and Hollywood their home. The young and hopefuls go there with hopes of making it big. Hollywood has become the symbol of film entertainment and the center of that industry. A major theme in California history is the desire to make oneself by leaving everything behind and starting afresh in the Golden State. The Hollywood film industry has been a promulgator of this story for decades. How did this sleepy Spanish-American town go from a desert nothing to a metropolis of art? Why did the film industry find

Scholarly Works… 69 its home in a small city in Southern California? What is the story of the true “Entertainment Capital of the World?” Before ‘Hollywood’ The city of Los Angeles has a long history. It started out as a small Spanish town ruled by the Californios. It was a minor military outpost on the outskirts of the dwindling Spanish Empire. California was admitted to the Union in 1850, and though Los Angeles was to become a major port. The growth of the city was slow going; Hollywood was still just a speck on the map. “A decade and half [after statehood], the township map of West Los Angeles proper described the approximate Hollywood area as ‘cactus and underbrush.’” Nothing was there, just desert with the potential to become something more. The Gold Rush began to give California new life. People from far and wide, of all different backgrounds and cultures, came to California to make their new starts in the land of opportunity. When gold was discovered, the state was overrun by immigrants and prospectors looking to make it rich. This is where California’s identity as a place of new beginnings took form. “The Gold Rush can indeed be said to have revitalized the rancho economy of Southern California […].” The cattle from the southern half of the state was in high demand to feed the miners up north. When competition for beef came from other states, citrus, wine, and wheat became the commodities. The introduction of the railroads brought the people. “In 1871 the Southern Pacific went south from Sacramento to Los Angeles and then east to the Colorado River, ready to link with other railroads in the Southeast and Midwest.” To garner business, the railroads published tourist guides and encouraged

Scholarly Works… 70 settlements at every train station along the route. The even and beautiful Southern California climate was a draw for herders, farmers, and real estate brokers. “Thanks to the railroads, the first major building in most towns was not a church or a town hall but a hotel for land buyers.” The expansion and popularity of the railroads also brought another group seeking to extort the benefits of Southern California. “The north may have lured migrants looking for gold, but the south, especially Los Angeles, chiefly brought people who hoped to retard the effects of old age and sickness.” Folks looking to escape the city and retire to the Sunshine State took the opportunity to refresh themselves. This means that the population of Los Angeles grew almost five times the size between 1880 and 1890. At this same time, Harvey H. Wilcox was sectioning off land in his 125 acres of what would become Hollywood, while George Shatto was advertising trips to his Catalina Island. Property in Southern California was being eaten up and the tourist industry was booming. The town of Hollywood grew alongside its southern neighbor, but with some distinct differences. The Wilcoxs, whose land Hollywood was founded on, made sure to keep their town a conservative, Eden-like utopia. Orchards were maintained to keep the land looking like the countryside. Laws were put in place prohibiting the selling of alcohol. Homes were large, beautiful, and lavish. When Hollywood became an official city, it strived to keep those polluting industries and people away from its paradise gardens. People came to Hollywood and north Los Angeles to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Tourists came to visit the paradise of the West Coast. “The warmth and sunlight of California was thus hardly a unique dis-

Scholarly Works… 71 -covery of the movie business, and touring the distinctive mansions and gardens of the Los Angeles area was a popular pastime for the twenty thousand or so people that wintered there beginning in the 1890s.” Artists such as Paul De Longpré and L. Frank Baum retired to Hollywood; giving it the art foundation it would come to represent. A Brief History of Film The Edison Company came up with the first prototype of the Kinetoscope in 1891, which allowed one person to view a series of moving images. In 1895, the Lumière brothers were the first to present moving pictures to a paying audience with their own device called the Cinématographe; this device combined the functions of projector, camera, and printer into one. These early films began as one-to-two minute features shown at fairs, festivals, and lecture halls all over the country. Although they had no sound attached, they were often accompanied by music and explanations. Developing ‘Hollywood’ “Until World War I, the film business was primarily an East Coast enterprise, and Hollywood […] was a sometimes convenient, but hardly permanent, stopping place.” With the rise of film technology in New York and Chicago, film did not reach Hollywood until 1909. Even then, producers and directors would not choose to start studios in Hollywood itself. With its high-minded background, cinema was considered by Hollywood to be just the type of industry they wanted to avoid. However, with their consolidation into Los Angeles in 1909, it could no longer maintain its aloofness. The consolidation brought public transportation, electricity, police protection, people, and water to

Scholarly Works… 72 Hollywood. Three years after the consolidation, Mulholland’s aqueduct connecting Owen’s Valley and Los Angeles was completed, giving fresh water to both Los Angeles and Hollywood. It was only after Hollywood became a subdivision of Los Angeles that the film industry poked its head around the corner. Even then, they were reluctant to actually settle in Hollywood itself. In 1909, the Selig Company from Chicago moved to Edendale to take advantage of the photogenic location. That same year, Bison Company also moved into Edendale after a short-lived venture in Hollywood. It wasn’t until 1911 that Hollywood saw movie studios open their doors in the city proper: Centaur and Nestor being the first two. Soon after, other companies followed, bringing stars with them to act in their films. Fatty Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, and Charlie Chaplin were among the first names to grace the streets of Hollywood. Yet they still did not spend much of their time there. The most popular filming locations were in downtown Los Angeles, in the desert, or down at Venice beach – basically anywhere but in Hollywood itself. ”Hollywood […] was still a place for respectable retirement and second homes rather than premieres and movie stars.” Major studios like Biograph and Vitagraph – though they used the Southern California setting to film – still kept their main offices in New York. Hollywood would not become the epicenter of the film industry for several years. The Movie that Made Us As time went on, Hollywood could not keep the film industry at bay forever. Movies meant money, and money is what Hollywood caved to. 1914 is the year that Daeida Wilcox (along with her high-browed social influence)

Scholarly Works… 73 died. It was also the year that a Hollywood mansion welcomed its first film crew. The mansion belonged to Dr. A. G. Schoessler, located on the corners of Franklin and Argyle Avenues. The film was Tillie’s Punctured Romance; it was one of the first feature length films made. It starred Marie Dressler as Tillie, Charlie Chaplin, and Mabel Normand as the con-artists after her money. With the influence of the budding star culture, this cast gained movie notoriety across the country. The film was the first time a Hollywood mansion was featured on the screen, instead of only some passing shots. Although the name ‘Hollywood’ would not appear in films until the 1920’s, Tillie’s Punctured Romance was the foot in the door the film industry needed to make its stand in Hollywood. In 1918, Chaplin set up his own studio on La Brea Avenue. This was another step for the encroaching industry. However, major studios like Universal, Warner Bros., and MGM were still in the San Fernando Valley, Culver City, and Burbank, respectively. Chaplin’s studio was the first major motion picture company to build and open its doors within Hollywood itself. It was the start of what we know of today as ’Hollywood,’ the movie-making capital. Here They Come The introduction of the public to feature films such as Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914) and The Birth of a Nation (1915) caused the popularity of movies to rise. “Floods of wannabe actors and actresses […] were heading toward Los Angeles and Hollywood, swelling the population and enhancing the reputation of the city and as yet small suburb as the Holy Grail of American ambition.” There was ample opportunity out West for the film industry, so that is where they went.

Scholarly Works… 74 The uniqueness of Southern California made itself known in the world of film very quickly. While cities like New York and Paris had the history and metropolitan atmosphere, Hollywood and Los Angeles had the ability to be morphed into anything the studio required. Where shooting film was only doable as long as the weather held out in the East, the Southern California sun made filming easy and predictable. With its versatility, Hollywood was now becoming synonymous with the blooming star culture and the film industry itself. Not only was Hollywood becoming the place to be, but it also gave rise to a new style of film. With the raw landscape of the desert and city, with the stars and talent to create stories, a fusion of the two prominent styles of film (natural movement and landscape) and fictional storytelling was created. “This intertwining of fantasy and reality lured audiences all over America by an essentially American myth – the desire for self-creation, to be somebody […]” This idea of the self-made man - the dream and fortune seeking individual – is an extension of the American Dream, and the film industry took advantage of that. “The embedding of movies within movies also shows the need of entrepreneurial Hollywood filmmakers, unlike those state-supported in European industries, to engage in self-promotion and industry promotion.” The common story of an individual packing their bags and moving to California to seek their fame and fortune began to emerge. One had to go after what they wanted and make it happen. No one was going to do it for you; if you had an idea, you saw it out. The New Era Hollywood’s fame continued to grow. Movies were

Scholarly Works… 75 churned out, people came from far and wide, and Los Angeles was the best advertised city in the world. “The early 1920s therefore mark the moment when ‘Hollywood,’ with the newfound respectability as well as the notoriety of the movies as an art and business, begins to be the local habitation and the name for its aspects, no matter where they might be in reality.” From this point on, Hollywood has a place in ours minds as the land where dreams come true. The ‘Golden Age’ of film, in the 1930’s and 1940’s, brings us our classic stars, such as Clark Gable, Kathryn Hepburn, Fred Astaire, and so many more. WWII created the need for escapist entertainment, making the movie industry even more popular. Movie stars went on tour in Europe to bring entertainment to the troops. Back at home, stars and amateurs flocked to the streets of Los Angeles to get a glimpse of that mystic land that was Hollywood. Today, we walk the Walk of Fame, picking out our favorite stars. We visit Universal Studios and Disneyland to feel the magic of creation that the film industry brings. Hollywood is a symbol of new beginnings. It is a beacon that is distinct to California, with its roots deep in the desert sands. Walt Disney, though he set up his theme park a few miles south, set up shop originally in Burbank. In California Adventure Park, there stands a bronze statue depicting Walt and Mickey with their suitcases packed next to them. The statue is called “Storytellers” and there are two quotes inscribed underneath the figures. The shorter one reads: “We are just getting started.” The other is longer, and perfectly describes California and the Hollywood scene: “It was July 1923. I packed all of my worldly goods — a pair of trousers, a checkered coat, a lot

Scholarly Works… 76 of drawing materials and the last of the fairy tale reels we had made — in a kind of frayed cardboard suitcase. And with that wonderful audacity of youth, I went to Hollywood, arriving there with just forty dollars. It was a big day the day I got on that Santa Fe California Limited. I was just free and happy!”

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