Last night, I watched an hour-long film on TCM called “The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story” in which a very wooden MGM production chief, Dore Schary, promoted upcoming MGM films for 1951. It was like an hour-long buffet of trailers for black-and-white and color movies, some of which I’d never heard of. But near the start was this shot that answered a question I’ve long wondered: Where was the main gate in relation to the Irving Thalberg building? That’s the building on the left and the main gate was at the end of the road that crosses in front of it.
Here is a close up of the main gate as it existed in 1951. I’d imagine it must have been quite a thrill for newly contracted performers to drive in through that gate on their first day.
Here is a satellite shot of that same area in (circa) 2020. The MGM studio lot is now the Sony lot. The Irving Thalberg building is still there, and now has a huge rainbow (as in “Somewhere Over The”) which is a piece of public art. That street we can see in the 1951 screenshot is now lined with trees.
That ’42 Lincoln Continental really needs whitewall tires.
You are so right about that
Yes! That’s the gate where a friend and I snuck (walked nonchalantly) onto the lot in 1986! We had lunch in the commissary and saw William Devane and Bill Bixby. (I wish I could remember what I ate, I don’t at all.) We walked onto an open door soundstage with sets from Knots Landing. A bit later I thought we got caught at one point when a voice behind us said, “What’re you two doing here?” It was a customer that I knew from the place I worked at. He did wonder how we got on the lot, but then took us around and showed us a couple things, like the swim tank they filmed Esther Williams underwater close-ups in and the screening room on the lot.
Before we spent time there, the two of us had started at the Selznick Studios not far away in Culver City. My friend is a big fan of Vivien Leigh and GWTW. One scene in GWTW was filmed in front of that famous studio mansion where there’s a tall gate. So we stood there taking it all in and I said, “Wouldn’t it be great if this gate was unlocked?” Leaning forward, I put my hand on it and the gate opened a couple inches. I was astounded even then that it was indeed unlocked. I said “why don’t we go in?” We did and walked up to the front door of the iconic building. Unbelievably, that door was open, too! We walked in. There was a hallway that seemed to lead right to the backlot. There was no one around at all. We walked out the back and stood there looking at the soundstages on both sides of a roadway space.
I wanted to keep looking around, but my friend was nervous about getting caught and wanted to leave. I wasn’t, I thought if we were confronted by anyone and told them the truth they’d just make us leave. But he was leaving so I went with him, going back through the mansion building, out the door and out the front gate. All that time we didn’t run into, nor were stopped, by a single person. I think at that time it was Laird International Studios.
Info I just looked up said it was Laird Int. from 1977-1986. In the search there was an L.A. Times article from Oct. 1986 that said the studio was up for sale. Maybe that’s why the security was lax. I’m pretty sure October is the month that we were there.
Thanks for sharing those precious memories. I’d have kept going until someone threw us out!
As an aside to the later era, here’s a bit of stuff covering the origins of the area that was the Palms townsite between Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Culver City was broken off from this. The linked 1896 government map has the original rail line (LA&I/SP/PE Air Line) through there. The Venice Short Line had a split at Culver Junction sending the Redondo via Del Rey line down one side of where MGM’s lots would reside. Even as the line retreated and dropped passenger services to the beach cities, it was used to carry freight into the remaining district passing that largely defunct backlot to the bitter end. I’ve often wondered why aerial images show so few cars or parking areas around this massive studio. The Palms history link: https://www.cheviothillshistory.org/worsfold-s-letters
There’s a parking lot to the right of the street leading to the main gate. On Sundays, we could park there for church (which was immediately across the street).
We walked across the street leading to the gate going home from elementary school, and once my girlfriend and I squeeed when we saw Richard Chamberlain in a baby blue Corvette. He was leaving the lot as we walked in front of us. He waved and said hi. So, exciting! I grew up two blocks south of the Thalberg Building (to the left of the picture).
These two pictures really confused me, as the extension to the guard shack shown in the top photo was not there when I worked at MGM. And if you look at the aerial shot, it’s not there either. However I had seen the top shot before, but couldn’t remember where. The sailor, the people laughing in the car does not look like reality. At least the reality of the time I was there. It looks staged. Especially the fact that there is a sailor in both, but that should have been a clue. Just happened to be looking something up in a book I have on MGM and there was that photo, which is from “Anchors Aweigh”. Of course! The sailor is Frank Sinatra. At 1:10:53 there is an establishing shot of the front gate taken from the front of the Thalberg Building followed by a closeup of the gate with the fancy addition. This would put these photos in 1945.
Despite the fancied up portrayal of the main gate, there is some truth there. When I first started in 1964 kids were still hanging around outside that gate hoping to get autographs when the stars drove in and out. One day I walked out of the main gate and was accosted by a little boy who asked “Are you somebody?” I said “Yes.” He said “Who are you?” “I’m Debbie Reynolds.” He looked at me for a beat and then said “No, you’re not!” Smart kid!
In regard to the gentleman above who was able to walk through the gate in 1986 without being stopped, that is unusual, but not too surprising considering what the studio was going through at the time. Also Kenny was no longer there. Ken Hollywood was the main gate guard for many years. He was an icon in his own right and the perfect man for the job. Knew everyone, big or small, whether you belonged or not and was respectful to all. When he retired it was hard to replace him. One day Fernando Lamas drove up and the new guard had no idea who he was, wouldn’t let him proceed without checking, made him spell his last name and generally handled the whole thing badly. And yet a few years later Mr. Pal and his friend are able to just walk on.
Oh, yeah, Ken Hollywood went to our church!