Title supplied by cataloger.; Photograph edited for publication. The Historic Hollywood Photographs Collection includes over 12,000 images from 1880 to 2012, chronicling both Hollywood's evolution from a dusty outpost to a global legend and Los Angeles communities and neighborhoods. The collection's official history began in 1972 after historian/photographer/author Bruce Terence inherited the photographs from his Hollywood pioneer grandfathers, developer Charles E. Toberman and actor Ernest Torrence. Over the decades, Torrence added his own photographs, creating the impressively comprehensive collection that is available today. In 2019, Torrence retired and sold the collection to Stephen and Christy McAvoy, both Los Angeles natives with a passion for history, photography, and preservation. Stephen (1945-2023) was a retired CPA and avid photo collector whose parents worked in the Ink & Paint Department at Walt Disney Studios from the 1930s to 1970s, while Christy, a trailblazer in the field of historic preservation and architectural consulting in Hollywood, is recognized as having co-founded Hollywood Heritage and the Historic Resources Group. Her dedicated preservation efforts also include having served as president of the Los Angeles Conservancy and the California Preservation Foundation, and as an Advisor to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The McAvoys, with the help of their daughter, artist/photographer Carly Caryn, maintained the physical collection and its online access until May 1, 2024, when the collection was acquired by the Los Angeles Public Library. Aerial photograph looking east from Hollywood Boulevard (center) and La Brea Avenue (foreground). Notable structures include the Rollin B. Lane Estate (left), Hollywood Methodist Church (left), the Montecito apartment building (upper left), the Fontenoy apartment building (left of center), First National Bank of Hollywood (center), the Hollywood Hotel (center), Grauman's Chinese Theatre (center), the Garden Court Apartments (lower left of center), the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (center), the El Capitan Theatre, the Hollywood Professional Building (lower center), Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church (upper right of center), and a glimpse of the Charlie Chaplin Studios (lower right).
Central business districts Streets Roads--Interchanges and intersections Stores & shops Dwellings Commercial buildings Office buildings Bank buildings Hotels El Capitan Theatre (Organization : Hollywood, Calif.) Motion picture theaters Blessed Sacrament Church (Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.) Garden Court Apartments (Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.) Catholic churches Chinese Theatre (Los Angeles, Calif.) Trees Palms Methodist church buildings First Methodist Church of Hollywood (Hollywood, Calif.) Fontenoy Apartments (Los Angeles, Calif.) Montecito (Apartment house : Los Angeles, Calif.) Hollywood Professional Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Chaplin Studios, Inc Rollin B. Lane Estate (Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.) Motion picture studios First National Bank of Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) Architecture--Chinese influences Architecture--Spanish influences Apartments Lost architecture Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (Los Angeles, Calif.) Hollywood Hotel (Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.) Barber, Thomas P Power, Thomas Franklin King, Richard D Bryant, Leland A Meline, Frank S Meyer & Holler Miller, Marcus P Fisher, Lake & Traver Kennedy, Raymond M Farwell, Lyman Dennis, Oliver Perry Hawthorn Avenue (Los Angeles, Calif.) Orange Drive (Los Angeles, Calif.) Whitley Avenue (Los Angeles, Calif.) La Brea Avenue (Los Angeles, Calif.) Sycamore Avenue (Los Angeles, Calif.) Highland Avenue (Los Angeles, Calif.) Hollywood Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) Aerial photographs
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
