The Los Feliz Improvement Association has published a new Los Feliz history book dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the organization in 2016. “Los Feliz and the Silent Film Era: The Heart of Los Angeles Cinema 1908 to 1930” is a lavishly illustrated coffee table book that will be of interest to everyone, whether film buff or not.
Los Feliz was ideally suited for the film industry when east coast movie studios moved to Southern California beginning in 1908. The varied terrain of Griffith Park and the Los Angeles River, cheap undeveloped land and convenient public transportation were magnets. Within a few years there were ten major film studios in Los Feliz cranking out productions.
The new film industry sparked a housing boom, from modest Craftsman enclaves to luxurious mansions. The story of Los Feliz’s role in early film making and the major industry personalities who lived there during the silent film era is lavishly embellished with hundreds of photographs, maps, and illustrations as well as biosketches of the celebrities who made their homes in Los Feliz during the period.
Copies will become available in June 2013, and they can be purchased from the LFIA for $38.15 including tax. Checks should be sent to the “LFIA Treasurer” at P.O. Box 29395, Los Angeles, CA 90027.