MONOGRAM STUDIO

1725-1735 Fleming Street (Hoover Street)
Hollywood, California


In 1912, the Lubin Company purchased some land at 1725 Fleming Street (now Hoover Street) in East Hollywood (not in Colegrove as some historians have stated--Colegrove was located in the center of what is now Hollywood). In 1913, Lubin sold the property to the Essanay Company.

Essanay, after filming around 20 one-reel Westerns, departed the studio in April 1913. Kalem moved onto the property the following October. By February 1917, Kalem had moved out.

In March 1917, Willis and Inglis acquired the lot. Within a year's time, they had erected a 65' x 11' outdoor stage and a 50' x 100' indoor stage.

When Jesse D. Hampton moved onto the lot, the studio became known as the Hampton Studio. Willis and Inglis added another stage in March 1919. An April 1919 trade magazine reported that "the entire frontage along Fleming Street, heretofore adorned by a blank wall, is now occupied with a long row of offices filled with workers and other functionaries necessary to the operation of the big place." Hampton moved out in January 1920.

In 1920, Charles Ray and Willis and Inglis formed the Charles Ray Productions. This production unit purchased the lot.

It was Charles Ray who constructed the first sound stage on the property, Stage One (now known as Studio A): "The last word in studio construction ... completed just three months from the day on which Mr. Ray ... turned the first shovelful of earth. Perhaps the most striking feature of the studios is the glass enclosed stage, topped by a glass roof. The sides may be removed to permit openings when the shooting of street scenes is required ... The placing of a tank beneath the stage was a unique arrangement ... the installation of electrical equipment will insure a wealth of sunshine for daylight pictures as well as for night scenes..."

By October 1922 Ray had added a new "administration building of ornate Spanish type", which is still in use today.

In 1923, Charles Ray Productions went bankrupt and the property remained unused until Jean Navelle took over the lot in 1927 and ran it as a rental property.

By 1931, Ralph M. Like purchased the lot, renovated Stage One by converting it to sound and built Stage Two (Studio B) in 1932. The small backlot had a western street and a few standing sets.

In 1942, Monogram Pictures purchased the property from Like and set about improving the studio. Adjoining land was purchased where another sound stage was erected, a New York Street set built, and scene docks added. In 1943, an adjacent building on Sunset Boulevard was purchased for a costume department.

Allied Artists, a subsidiary of Monogram, was formed in 1946. In 1964, they headed for New York and the studio became a rental lot. In 1967, ColorVision purchased the property and continued to rent it out. In 1971, the Public Broadcasting Station, KCET, purchased the studio.


Kalem Studio
An early view of the Monogram lot when it was owned by the Kalem Studio


The second sound stage


The first sound stage (white building on left) and third sound stage (white building on right behind the front sound stage)


The current KCET television administration on property adjacent to the old Monogram lot


DIRECTIONS: Located at Sunset Drive and Sunset Blvd., just east of the intersection of Hollywood Blvd., Sunset Blvd., and Hillhurst.