Category Archives: Preservation

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: TCM Festival Salutes Hollywood’s Golden Age

Posted on April 29, 2024 by lmharnisch

The recently concluded 15th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival brought together film fans from around the world to Hollywood to celebrate films, friends, and fun. Filled with diverse programming offering something for everyone, the Festival brings together archivists, academics, and … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Clara Bow’s 1920s Home for Sale, a Cozy Cottage for Star of Silent Films

Posted on April 23, 2024 by lmharnisch

Clara Bow’s former rental at 7576 Hollywood Blvd. is on the market for $1.3 million. Hollywood homes can show a star’s character just as much as any candid portrait. Ostentatious or understated, hip or homey, residences serve as a snapshot … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Silent Films’ Broad Range on Display at San Francisco Festival

Posted on April 19, 2024 by lmharnisch

While the recently concluded 27th SFSFF moved from the beautiful vintage Castro Theatre to a new barnlike structure adjacent to the remaining structure from the 1915 Panama Pacific Intl. Exposition, it once again featured diverse programming offering an emotional, humanistic … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 2178 High Tower Drive, L.A.’s First Community Elevator

Posted on January 8, 2024 by lmharnisch

The Tower appeared in the March 24, 1939, installment of Nuestro Pueblo by Joseph Seewerker and Charles Owens of the Los Angeles Times. Note: This is an encore post from 2020. Both marketing gimmick and necessity, the elevator shaft that … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Landmark Vista Theatre Turns 100

Posted on October 9, 2023 by lmharnisch

The Vista Theatre in 1951, via Water and Power Associates. The Vista Theatre opened October 9, 1923. Built as an upscale house for smaller studio releases, it remains viable even today, as director Quentin Tarantino restores it. One of the … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Casa La Golondrina Cafe, L.A.’s Oldest Brick Building

Posted on October 2, 2023 by lmharnisch

La Golondrina in Screenland magazine, 1930. News came this week that current owners of historic La Golondrina Cafe could soon be foreclosed on by the city of Los Angeles. La Golondrina is the oldest brick building in Los Angeles, possibly … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Lost Film ‘Hollywood’ Turns 100

Posted on September 6, 2023 by lmharnisch

One of the most sought after “lost” films, Paramount’s “Hollywood” debuted 100 years ago, telling a film industry behind-the-scenes story through scenes set all through the self-named community populated with a bevy of stars. Unlike several other movie-themed pictures released … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – The Quest for a Movie Museum

Posted on April 24, 2023 by lmharnisch

Image: Postcard showing a model of a proposed Hollywood museum, listed on EBay $3.99. Note: This is an encore post from 2011. Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Oct. 6 … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 2178 High Tower Drive, L.A.’s First Community Elevator

Posted on March 20, 2023 by lmharnisch

The Tower appeared in the March 24, 1939, installment of Nuestro Pueblo by Joseph Seewerker and Charles Owens of the Los Angeles Times. Note: This is an encore post from 2020. Both marketing gimmick and necessity, the elevator shaft that … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Egyptian Theatre, Where Grauman Put the ‘Show’ in Show Business, Turns 100

Posted on October 25, 2022 by lmharnisch

A postcard showing Sid Grauman and the Egyptian Theater, listed on EBay. On Oct. 18, Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre turned 100 years old. Built and operated by legendary showman Sid Grauman, the spectacular theater introduced major Hollywood premieres and radio broadcasts … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Mabel Normand Studio Leads the Way

Posted on September 30, 2022 by lmharnisch

One of the first film studios constructed for use solely by a female performer, the Mabel Normand Studio still stands strong at the triangle intersection of Fountain Avenue, Bates Avenue, and Effie Street in East Hollywood, more than 100 years … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – ‘The Loves of Pharaoh’

Posted on September 12, 2022 by lmharnisch

Photo: Dagny Servaes in “The Loves of Pharaoh.” Credit: American Cinematheque. Note: This is an encore post from 2011. To celebrate the 89th anniversary of the opening of Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre, American Cinematheque screened the 1922 restored Ernst Lubitsch film … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Norman Kerry, Preservationist

Posted on May 16, 2022 by lmharnisch

Norman Kerry in 1924. Note: This is an encore post from 2019. Long before billionaire investor Ron Burkle purchased and restored such historic architectural properties as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis-Brown House, Harold Lloyd’s Greenacres, and Bob Hope’s Palm Springs and … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – United Artists Theatre

Posted on February 7, 2022 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2012. Los Angeles and Hollywood have been the Mecca and Medina of movies, where their acolytes came to worship, work and learn in the teens and 1920s.  After making movies, reverent places of … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Beverly Hills Waterworks

Posted on January 10, 2022 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2012. Southern California and Los Angeles have grown by leaps and bounds over the last 150 years, and the most urgent requirement during that time has been water.  Unable to provide enough water … Continue reading →

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L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Holiday Shopping Guide

Posted on December 22, 2021 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2011. I picked up “The Big Picture,” Melba Levick and Stanley Young’s 1988 book about Los Angeles murals, not realizing what a terribly sad book it would be. As Young notes: “Most artists … Continue reading →

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L.A. Daily Mirror Retro Holiday Shopping Guide

Posted on December 3, 2021 by lmharnisch

I’m happy to recommend Bunker Hill Los Angeles: Essence of Sunshine and Noir, by my Crime Buddy Nathan Marsak, published in 2020 by Angel City Press. The book is full of historic photos and vintage ephemera, and the text is … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hollywood Pioneer Eugene Plummer and His Park

Posted on October 12, 2021 by lmharnisch

Eugene Plummer holds what he claimed was Joaquin Murrieta’s 12-shot pistol, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 5, 1938. Virtually forgotten today, Hollywood pioneer Eugene R. Plummer preserved many romantic traditions of old Los Angeles throughout his 91 years. Generous to a … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Olvera Street, Salute to Los Angeles’ Spanish Past

Posted on October 4, 2021 by lmharnisch

A postcard of the Avila Adobe, listed on EBay for $1.89. “A people that has lost touch with its historical past, forgotten its traditions and wasted its heritage is as unfortunate as a man who has lost his memory. Without … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory/ Hollywood Heights: First Permanent Film Studio Was an Abandoned Roadhouse

Posted on September 29, 2021 by lmharnisch

When early moving picture companies set down roots in the farming community of Hollywood, they employed simple structures like barns, warehouses, and even an abandoned roadhouse as studios. These early production entities ventured west in 1909 and 1910 to escape … Continue reading →

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