95 Sound Stages

The creative minds of Jack Cohn, Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt joined forces to start their very own production company — CBC (Cohn Brandt and Cohn) — at a location on Sunset Boulevard, now known as Sunset Gower Studios.

Sam, Jack, Albert and Harry Warner purchased a vacant farm on Sunset Boulevard.

John Jasper, former general manager for Charlie Chaplin’s movie studio, built three production stages and several bungalows on 16.5 acres of undeveloped land in Hollywood and named it Hollywood Studios, Inc. Among the early tenants were daredevil comedian Harold Lloyd, up-and-coming tycoon Howard Hughes, Chaplin’s United Artists, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith.

An American soldier returned from France with a German Shepherd named, “Rinty” or “Rin Tin Tin,” that would become the Warner Brothers' biggest star and help catapult the studio as an industry player.

The Warner brothers erected a landmark radio tower and established a successful radio station, KFWB at Sunset Bronson Studios.

The lot changed ownership and name several times during its early years. As Metropolitan Studios, in 1928, one of the industry’s first sound stages was constructed, which ultimately converted filmmaking to an indoor activity where recording levels and acoustics could be better controlled.

The Warner brothers were early adopters of synchronized sound and produced "The Jazz Singer", the first talking feature length film.

At the height of Hollywood’s “golden era,” scores of legendary films were produced at SLPS, including many of Mae West’s films, including "Klondike Annie", the 21-picture Hopalong Cassidy series and the Bing Crosby classic "Pennies from Heaven". Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Laurel & Hardy, Fred Astaire, Carey Grant and James Cagney were among the many stars who filmed on the lot in the pre-World War II years.

Warner Brothers' moved its executive offices and several productions to Burbank, although the Sunset Blvd. studios remained active and produced Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, two of the most popular cartoon series ever produced.

Now in sole control of CBC, Harry Cohn renamed the company Columbia Pictures Corporation. What truly solidified Columbia Pictures as a respectable and high-end production company was the production and release of the Frank Capra film It Happened One Night in 1934. It swept the Academy Awards that year and was the first film in history awarded “the Big Five” (all five major Academy Awards). In addition to producing groundbreaking films such as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", "The Lady from Shanghai" and "Gidget", it was the contracting of major stars such as Rita Haworth, Spencer Tracy and others that contributed to Columbia’s relatively new positive reputation. For Harry Cohn’s death in 1958, Columbia Pictures hosted a funeral across multiple stages on the lot. His funeral is still known to be the most attended funeral in Hollywood history. Despite the incredible success achieved at Columbia Pictures by Harry Cohn, his legacy was left unattended after his passing, and the company experienced a financial and production lull during the 1960s and 1970s.

Stage 2 at SLPS became home to "I Love Lucy", the first-ever primetime comedy produced before a live studio audience on the West Coast.

Gene Autry’s company, Golden West Broadcasters, acquired and renovated the studio. Despite drastic changes to the structures on the property, the executive office building and radio tower were preserved.

Columbia Pictures left Gower Street and moved to the San Fernando Valley. Pick Vanoff Company purchased the remaining studios on Gower and renamed the property Sunset Gower Studios, thereby transforming the lot into an independent production facility. From there, Sunset Gower Studios became the home to many successful sitcom shows of the 1970s, 80s and 90s. In the 70s, popular shows such as "The Flying Nun", "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie" were filmed on the lot and paved the way for future productions. Fan favorite shows such as "Saved by the Bell", "The Golden Girls", "The Newlywed Game" and "Who’s the Boss?" were filmed at the studios in the 80s, with "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "Full House" following in the 90s.

Briefly home to Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios. In 1984, the lot was acquired by the Singers, and the lot produced some of the country’s most popular TV series, including: "Jeopardy", "Star Search" and the Emmy award-winning children’s program, "Pee-wee’s Playhouse".

Now Hollywood Center Studios, a multi-million dollar investment upgraded control rooms, camera packages and infrastructure to HDTV.

In 2007, Sunset Gower was purchased by Victor Coleman and the team at Hudson Capital (later known as Hudson Pacific Properties). A year later, Hudson Pacific Properties completed construction of a state-of-the-art, six story building for Technicolor, marking the first new building on a Hollywood lot since the 1970s. Since that time, Sunset Gower has been home to groundbreaking entertainment such as "Heroes", "Dexter" and "Newsroom". Current award-winning productions include "Scandal" and "How to Get Away with Murder".

Hudson Pacific Properties purchased the lot and dedicated extensive resources to its beautification and preservation — most notably, the original Warner Brothers' executive office building, a striking white, columned mansion visible from Sunset Blvd.

Hudson Pacific Properties completed development of ICON, a state-of-the-art, 14-story office tower at Sunset Bronson Studios which becomes Netflix’s Los Angeles headquarters, and solidifies a rebirth of production and innovation in Hollywood.

Hudson Pacific Properties acquired Hollywood Center Studios from the Singer family, renamed it Sunset Las Palmas Studios and embarked on an extensive modernization of the lot.

Harlow creative office development completed. Situated between historic stages and production offices, Harlow is a four-story,130,000-square-foot newly constructed and state-of-the-art Class A office building.

Sunset Studios achieves 100% carbon neutrality across all operations.

Plans unveiled for the first large-scale purpose-built studio development in Los Angeles in over 20 years. The 240,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility will include seven sound stages, production office and support space.

UK expansion announced with 91-acre site located north of London where Sunset Studios will build world-class film and television production campus.

Acquires Quixote, Star Waggons and Zio Studio Services to offer clients a full production services platform including luxury location trailers, trucks & other vehicles, lighting/grip, supplies/expendables and more.

Manhattan’s first purpose-built studio facility, is announced. The 266,000-square-foot facility will feature state-of-the-art technology across six sound stages, production support space and offices.