The William Fox Studio on Western Ave. near Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, circa early 1920s
These days we’re used to movie studios being surrounded by high walls and protected by a phalanx of security guys. But look at the front entrance of the William Fox Studios on Western Ave at Sunset Boulevard. It opens out directly on to the street and has a charming little awning. William Fox ran two studios on Western Ave at Sunset Boulevard. He had an 8½-acre “Comedy lot” and 5-acre “Dramatic lot.” It’s where he made all his movies from 1920 until 1924, when he needed to expand and bought 99 acres of land between Santa Monica Blvd and Pico Blvd just south of Beverly Hills. A few years later when the ambitious Fox’s fortunes soured, his studio merged with Darryl Zanuck’s Twentieth Century Pictures to become the powerhouse Twentieth Century-Fox studios.
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The Sunset Theater would be located on the right side just above the near intersection below that hotel. The white blur crossing up the road should be at about Hollywood. The college is visible up the hill and marks the location of Franklin Ave. where the P.E. Ry. line turned left (mainly a shuttle to Vine but with a short period of larger cars through routed onto Hollywood headed to Gardiner). Behind us, the L.A. Ry. cars ran only as far up as Santa Monica and terminated there. At some point that connection was withdrawn and the nearest yellow cars to downtown were over at Vermont by the college..a bit of a walk but not deadly far.
Additionally, I believe I have occasionally mis-identified the bank on the NW corner at Santa Monica as the second location (circa 1963-197?) for the Reginal Denny Hobby Shop. It was in fact at Sunset in the building visible here. A surviving snapshot exists with the Sunset Theater barely in frame.
Used to deliver the Hollywood Citizens News paper to Fox daily. Also frequented Reginald Denny’s hobby shop N/W corner Sunset/Western.