The grand opening of what was then the Warner Western Theater, courtesy of Mary Mallory.
The history of one street corner can often show the growing pains of a burgeoning city. What started out as a rural location can often times become a gorgeous office tower drawing all eyes to its sleek structure. Such is the case with the magnificent Wiltern Theatre, still proudly standing at the southeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, an emblem of a city dreaming of a spectacular future.
Since the 1880s, the 80 acres southeast of Wilshire Boulevard at Western Avenue had been the Germain Pellissier family ranch, green pasture housing merino sheep. As early as 1913, they smartly recognized the economic potential of the area and subdivided their 80 acres southeast of the intersection of Wilshire and Western into residential lots in a district named Pellissier Square, nicknamed “Uptown.” The land included a provision that the area would remain single-family homes until Jan.1, 1925. In 1916, some homeowners attempted to get this covenant overturned so that the land would always remain residential, but lost.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
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