Title supplied by cataloger. In 1918, the Brothers Warner (Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack) bought 10.2-acres of land in Hollywood from the Beesmyer family at a cost of $25,000. In 1919 they built a giant stage nicknamed The Barn, which measured 50-feet wide by 100- feet long. This stage was torn down in 1923 and was replaced by a collection of smaller stages and buildings. In 1925, Sam Warner started KFWB radio station on the lot. In 1937 brother-in-law, Harry Charnas, opened Sunset Bowling Center behind the old executive offices of Warner Bros. Studios. The Sunset Bowling Center was part of a "sports palace" that also contained badminton courts and a skating rink. The 52-lane bowling alley was the largest in the world at that time, with pin boys living in the loft of the building; it operated for ten years. In 1954, Paramount bought the site to provide television production facilities for KTLA, which moved to the site in 1958. Gene Autry bought KTLA in 1964, and leased the space from Paramount for three years, after which he bought the property for a whopping $5 million dollars. In 1982, an investment-banking firm bought the lot and KTLA, and three years later, sold out to the Tribune Company. In January of 2008, Hudson Capital purchased the landmark 1920s Warner Bros Studio for an astounding $130 million dollars. This beautiful building of classical design, which boasts of a big colonnade of Doric columns, was declared Historic-Cultural Monument No. 180 in 1977 by the city of Los Angeles. It is located on the 5800 block of Sunset and Bronson. Exterior view of the Warner Brothers West Coast Studios, located at 5858 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. The 1922 building served as the West Coast headquarters of the Warner brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack, until 1929. Nearly ten years later the building was converted into a 52 lane bowling alley (Sunset Bowling Center). In 1964 Gene Autry purchased the former office building, making it the home of KTLA Channel 5.
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