In 1919, four of the biggest names in Hollywood – Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and director D.W. Griffith – formed their own production company, United Artists. They took over an independent studio on Santa Monica Blvd and dubbed it the Pickford–Fairbanks Studios, which is the large white building we’re seeing in this 1920 photograph. We’re looking southeast, so the road running from left to right is Santa Monica Blvd, and that strip in the upper left corner is La Brea Blvd. And all around it land, land, empty land! The studio is still around, operating under a slew of different names and owners—Samuel Goldwyn was one—and is now simply called The Lot.

This satellite view shows the same area in 2021.