Aerial photo looking south along Western Ave from Sunset Blvd at the William Fox Studios, Los Angeles, 1918

Aerial photo looking south along Western Ave from Sunset Blvd at the William Fox Studios, Los Angeles, 1918In this aerial shot, we’re looking south along Western Ave. The cross street near the bottom of the photo is Sunset Blvd, which means that block with the long buildings is the William Fox movie studios. They were built in 1917, so they were only a year old when this photo was taken in 1918. William Fox was a force to be reckoned with through the silent era, but he suffered huge losses in the stock market crash and by 1930 was no longer studio head. In 1935, the studio merged with 20th Century Pictures to form 20th Century-Fox. Their main lot was in Century City, but through to the 1970s, they maintained this secondary lot. The area was fairly well developed at this point, but there does appear to be a small orchard at the very bottom of this photo.

Tommy D says: “William Fox took over the Thomas Dixon Studios and then expanded to both sides of Sunset Blvd. and Western Ave. on the South. On the Right hand side of this image contained the Glass roofed stages, School, and Commissary.”

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2 responses to “Aerial photo looking south along Western Ave from Sunset Blvd at the William Fox Studios, Los Angeles, 1918”

  1. Al Donnelly says:

    A tinted postcard looking north over Sunset toward the uphill estate groves is focused across the northeast section of the westside lot (main studio). The bungalows were actors dressing rooms (per the title). Here most structures are gone, but a large one is still there in this photo midway across the lot on the Sunset edge. [Martin-Looking at the dates you give, might need to revise that one year a bit unless they tore the place up immediately?] It would be interesting to know if that estate was at the center of an enormous farmsite, as images seem to suggest groves were disappearing section by section all around that core. (A huge structure is soon seen in the block just to the west of here.) And then the whole corner hill seems to be leveled for commercial development.

  2. Gary Helsinger says:

    I don’t know if you’ve posted this shot from the opposite angle (looking northwest), so here it is if not

    https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/asset-management/2A3BF1GB96V?FR_=1&W=428&H=745

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