Colonnade entrance to Thomas Ince studio, Washington Blvd, Culver City, 1916

Colonnade entrance to Thomas Ince studio, Washington Blvd, Culver City, 1916Whenever I see photos of this colonnade studio entrance I think of MGM’s Culver City studios in the 1930s and 40s. But until I found this photo, I’m not sure I realized that those columns date all the way back to when the lot was known as Triangle Studios, founded in July 1915 as a home to three big names in silent movies: D. W. Griffith, Thomas Ince and Mack Sennett. The colonnade served as a classy entrance to the studio, but back when this photo was taken in 1916, you could obviously find easy parking right out front too.

Fortunately, the colonnade survived through the MGM years and into the Sony studio era. This image is from July 2022.

 

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4 responses to “Colonnade entrance to Thomas Ince studio, Washington Blvd, Culver City, 1916”

  1. Bill Wolfe says:

    I remember the first time I saw this. I found myself thinking, “Wow, they really wanted to keep out the unwashed masses!”

  2. Paula says:

    That’s a really familiar sight for me! The church I attended as a kid is directly across the street from the colonnade. To the left beyond the edge of the picture was a parking lot that was overflow for the church. We parked there quite often.

  3. Gordon says:

    A perfect example of the importance of preserving all types of our history .

  4. john says:

    Bravo!!! Something that hasn’t been demolished yet.

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