Lesser-known sites where something important happened. Many are now plaques, storefronts or private homes, so look from the sidewalk. 21 places, each with a map.
Sunset Blvd. at Gower St. · Hollywood
Hollywood’s first film studio opened here in October 1911, when the Nestor Company rented the old Blondeau Tavern at the northwest corner of Sunset and Gower. Within a year more than a dozen companies were working nearby. CBS Columbia Square later rose on the site, and a plaque recalls the moment Hollywood became a movie town.
Sunset Blvd. at Gower St. · Hollywood
In the 1920s and 1930s, cowboy extras in full costume gathered at this corner hoping for work on the quick westerns made by the small studios nearby, earning it the name Gower Gulch. The shopping center on the corner today wears a mock frontier facade as a nod to that history.
1628 N. Vine St. · Hollywood
From 1929 to 1985 the Hollywood Brown Derby served diners here, a block from the radio networks and studios. Caricatures of stars lined its walls, legend says Clark Gable proposed to Carole Lombard in one of its booths, and the Cobb salad was invented in its kitchen. Damaged by a 1987 fire and the 1994 Northridge earthquake, it was demolished in 1994.
8152 Sunset Blvd. · West Hollywood
Silent star Alla Nazimova turned her Sunset Boulevard estate into a hotel of bungalows around a pool in 1927. Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Humphrey Bogart were among its famous residents and guests. It was demolished in 1959, and a scale model of the hotel has been displayed in the bank that replaced it.
Hollywood Blvd. at Highland Ave. · Hollywood
The rambling Hollywood Hotel opened in 1902 and became the social center of early movie Hollywood, with weekly dances attended by the stars. Its dining room ceiling was painted with stars bearing the names of famous guests, an idea often credited with inspiring the Walk of Fame. It was demolished in 1956; the Dolby Theatre stands on the site.
8024 Sunset Blvd. · Hollywood
From the 1930s until 1983, Schwab’s drugstore and lunch counter was where actors and writers traded gossip and waited for work. Columnist Sidney Skolsky kept an office upstairs, and Billy Wilder put it in Sunset Boulevard. The legend that Lana Turner was discovered here is untrue; that happened at the Top Hat Café.
Sunset Blvd. at McCadden Pl. · Hollywood
Across from Hollywood High School, teenage Lana Turner was spotted at the Top Hat Café soda fountain in 1937 by Hollywood Reporter publisher Billy Wilkerson. The discovery launched her career and the enduring myth of being discovered at a lunch counter. The café is long gone, but the corner still faces the school.
1521 N. Highland Ave. · Hollywood
Founded in 1903, Hollywood High has educated a remarkable roster of performers, including Carol Burnett, John Ritter and Lana Turner. Its campus mixes art deco and later buildings, and Eloy Torrez’s large mural of Hollywood stars decorates the auditorium facing Highland Avenue. It is a working school, so view it from the street.
4649 Kingswell Ave. · Los Feliz
In 1923 Walt and Roy Disney set up their first Los Angeles studio in the back of a real estate office on this block, soon renting a storefront next door. The first Alice Comedies were made here before the brothers moved to Hyperion Avenue in 1926. The storefront is now a shop marked with a plaque.
2719 Hyperion Ave. · Silver Lake
From 1926 to 1940 Walt Disney’s studio stood here. Mickey Mouse was created during these years, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length cel-animated feature, was made in its buildings. The studio moved to Burbank in 1940, and a grocery store occupies the site today.
1215 Lodi Pl. · Hollywood
Designed by Julia Morgan and opened in 1926, this YWCA residence gave young women pursuing film careers a safe, affordable home. Residents over the years included Marilyn Monroe and Kim Novak. The Mediterranean-style building is a city landmark and is still used by the YWCA, so admire it from the street.
1451 N. Cahuenga Blvd. · Hollywood
During World War II, Bette Davis and John Garfield opened a club here in an old livery stable where servicemen could dance, eat and be entertained by stars for free. Millions of service members passed through between 1942 and 1945, served by Hollywood volunteers. An office building now stands on the site.
Sunset Blvd. at Vine St. · Hollywood
From 1938 to 1964, NBC’s streamline moderne Radio City filled this corner, broadcasting network radio shows starring Bob Hope and others, and later early live television. It was demolished in 1964, and later buildings took its place, but the corner of Sunset and Vine remains a hub of the entertainment business.
6252 Santa Monica Blvd. · Hollywood
Phil Spector built his Wall of Sound in this small studio’s echo chambers, recording hits such as Be My Baby and You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’. Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens and the Beach Boys also recorded here before it closed in 1984. The building burned soon after, and a strip mall stands on the site.
Sunset Blvd. at Crescent Heights Blvd. · West Hollywood
A small coffeehouse on a traffic island at this corner became the flashpoint of the 1966 Sunset Strip curfew riots, when young people protested curfews and the club’s planned demolition. Stephen Stills wrote Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth in response. The club was torn down, and the island remains.
8610 Sunset Blvd. · West Hollywood
Hollywood Reporter publisher Billy Wilkerson opened the Trocadero in 1934, and it became the Sunset Strip’s first great nightclub, where stars dined and danced under the eyes of photographers. It closed in 1946. Little remains, but the club helped turn this unincorporated stretch of Sunset into the Strip.
8935 Wonderland Park Ave. · Laurel Canyon
Hidden in Laurel Canyon, this Cold War facility was a secret film studio from 1947 to 1969. Military crews produced hundreds of classified films about nuclear weapons tests and missile programs here, many with the help of Hollywood-trained technicians. It is now a private home, so view it only from the street.
923 Vendome St. · Silver Lake
Laurel and Hardy spent the Oscar-winning 1932 short The Music Box pushing a piano up this long public stairway in Silver Lake. The steps look much as they did on film, and a plaque at the bottom marks the spot. Fans gather here each year to celebrate the film and climb the steps.
Sunset Blvd. at Hillhurst Ave. · Los Feliz
In 1916 D.W. Griffith built the colossal Babylon set for Intolerance on this corner, with towering walls topped by giant elephants. It stood for years as a local landmark before being dismantled. The Vista Theatre across the street and the Babylon Court at Ovation Hollywood both recall it.
2906 Griffith Park Blvd. · Silver Lake
Built in 1931, this row of storybook cottages with steep, crooked roofs sits a short drive from the site of Walt Disney’s Hyperion studio. Local lore says they inspired the dwarfs’ cottage in Snow White; there is no proof, but the resemblance is charming. They are private homes, so admire them from the sidewalk.
6230 Sunset Blvd. · Hollywood
Showman Earl Carroll opened this supper club and theater in 1938, promising the most beautiful girls in the world, with celebrity signatures set in its entrance wall. Later renamed the Aquarius Theater, it hosted the Los Angeles run of Hair and a famous 1969 Doors concert. It now houses production stages.