Back in Hollywood’s heyday, one of the most well-known landmarks was the NBC radio (and later television) studios on the northeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine St, which opened in 1938. But on the site once stood the Famous Players-Lasky Studios (which later evolved into Paramount and moved east to Melrose and Gower.) In this aerial photo, we’re looking south across the studios, which stretched from Selma Ave down to Sunset Blvd. The Sunset/Vine intersection is at the center of this photo, which was taken 1918, when the land south of Sunset Blvd was still largely empty.

Philip M says: “In the 50s (before NBC Burbank was built) there was a bunch of television that came out of here. And for a brief period (late ’59 to the demolition in early ’64) the NBC studios also functioned as the RCA recording studios where such things as Mancini’s Mr. Lucky and Sam Cooke’s Change Is Gonna Come were made. Because of that, this piece of property is only one of two that I know of that hosted the creation of Film, Radio, Television and Recorded Music (the big four that we know of as the Entertainment Industry). The other property is the northwest corner of Sunset and Gower, the former home of Nestor and Christie film companies, CBS radio and television and Columbia Records.“