Long Beach: Hollywood South?

Long Beach has long been a popular stand-in for other places in the movies and TV (currently having a starring role as Miami in the Showtime show "Dexter"). But Chad Greene at LB Post writes about the days back in the silent era when Beverly and La Cienega was not Hollywood's main crossroads:

Until 1918, however, another intersection was the heart of motion picture production in Southern California: Alamitos Avenue and Sixth Street in Long Beach. Since 1996 the site of the Museum of Latin American Art, the southeast corner of Alamitos and Sixth is where the Balboa Amusement Producing Company once stood. From 1913 to 1918, from fade in to fade out, Balboa Studios –- owned by the brothers H.M. and Edward Horkheimer -– cranked out more than 1,000 silents here, including the box-office blockbuster Little Mary Sunshine and the smash serials The Red Circle and Who Pays?

He notes that Hollywood still comes to Long Beach, including producers of the recent "Get Smart" and License to Wed" movies.

More on the old Balboa studios (along with some cool photos) here at the Long Beach Film Festival, which notes: "Although many films of Balboa may be lost forever, the story of the studio lives on through the recently released book 'Balboa Films: A History and Filmography of the Silent Film Studio.' "

--Shelby Grad

Photo: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[KaRi from LBweekly.com]

The EastVillageArtsDistrict.org's LINDEN AVENUE is a street with lots
of TV series action. There an art recepetion happening Sat Sept 13th
check out the 6 minute movie at ThePrimeSpot.com !

PS Funny, when I had a column I'd quote other columnists from other papers. I don't remember seeing anyone else do that until now - although LBpost.com isn't a paper!