In the aerial shot we’re looking at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studio lot in Culver City on August 27, 1939. That year is generally considered Hollywood’s greatest year, having put out a huge number of classic movies, and so this photo shows what the most successful studio looked like during its most successful year. That intersection at the bottom is where Washington Blvd meets Overland Ave and those billboards on the corner advertised upcoming MGM pictures. At the top of the photo we can see the then-still-new white Thalberg administration building, which opened in 1938, and named after the MGM producer, Irving Thalberg, who had died in 1936 (and who is the subject of my novel, “The Heart of the Lion.”)
This satellite shot is from January 2020 and shows the thriving movie lot – now home to Sony and Columbia Pictures – is still packed with soundstages, many of whom now have solar panels.
Ha. All these pictures never quite show the house I grew up in — nearly 3 blocks south of the Thalberg Building. We walked past it getting to our elementary school (St. Augustine’s).
We’re going to have to find a photo taken from a higher altitude and can take in a wider view.
Don’t go to any trouble on my account! I just point to a spot a little outside the frame and say “that’s my house.” 🙂
Glad to see the studios still there, but wish all, or some, of the great backlots were still there. It’s always written that the backlots declined because audiences wanted more realism in their movies, but what do we have now? CGI, which I often find very unreal.
I agree with you that the backlots declined because audiences wanted/preferred realism. And that’s kind of a shame, because the backlots are the most interesting part of a studio!
Where’d you find the old photo?
I’m sorry Matt, but it’s been in my pile for so long that I don’t recall.