Edendale — The Film Years

The first film studios in Los Angeles were not in Hollywood along Vine Street, Sunset Boulevard or La Brea Avenue, nor in Culver City, nor in Burbank. The first purpose-built film studios in Los Angeles were located along Allesandro Street in the pleasant valley and the surrounding foothills known as Edendale about three miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Modern residents now know this area as Echo Park and Silver Lake.

This long-form article documents the exciting times for the film colony in Edendale from 1909 to 1928 — the fast growth and then slow decline of the film industry along Allesandro Street (later Glendale Blvd.) and Teviot Street (later Silver Lake Blvd.).

Click this link: Edendale — The Film Years to view or download the document.

This is a detail from a 1909 Birds Eye View of Los Angeles, right at the beginning of the movie industry in Southern California. It shows the Pacific Electric Railroad (P.E.R.R.) passing Echo Park on its way through Edendale to Tropico and Glendale.