Hollywood History Part 3
Let’s Build Some Churches
And, it blossomed. And, it was a teetotaler, Holy Roller’s glorious dream! Lady Wilcox and her neighbors and some of her fellow townies donated their Christian cash to build up some (shocker) churches, schools and a library. Hallelujah. And, on November 14, 1903, this little, holy farming town was officially incorporated: Hooray for Hollywood!
But, drats! Drats! Hardcore droughts soon threatened Hollywood’s orchards and farms.
Lady Wilcox prayed for rain only to receive more sunshine. Old Man Wilcox felt nauseous looking at his croaking pepper trees; desperately, he busted open watermelons to get some juice to their thirsty Hollywood roots. Old Man Wilcox also succeeded in getting the Cahuenga Valley Railroad to chug past (the current) Hollywood Boulevard. The routes were soon extended to Laurel Canyon. Harvey Wilcox bit the dust in 1891. Daeida took over.
It’s also important and interesting to note that Horace Sockett established Hollywood’s first general store in 1887. You know, please think about this for a second. It’s important. It reminds us of not only how young Hollywood and the whole Hollywood celebrity culture is… but, also, just how young America is… and, to me, most interestingly, just how incredibly quickly it all happened! I mean… a short 125 years ago Hollywood didn’t even have a general store! Oh, friends, wisdom may come suddenly, but, evil moves like lightning.
Let’s Build Some Hotels
And, continuing this, the Glen Holly hotel also opened that year. It was constructed by M.J. Warneke at the corner of Ivan and Franklin. Right about this time, in 1893, H.J. Whitley came along and established his H.J. Whitley Jewelry Store. While on the topic of Whitley, in 1918, he bought up some more land and built the classy Whitley Heights Hillside Community where Rudolph Valentino once lived. Valentino resided with his wife, Natacha Rambova and they pioneered the luxurious, movie star ideal…
Now, we’ve reached a point where we’ve got to jump across the country: you see, what we’re eventually heading towards with this website is an analysis of the movies and celebrities and the very concept of celebrity; thus, we’ve been investigating the history of the geographical area that has come to be known as Hollywood, California, because, naturally, that’s the bastion of the motion picture industry.
And, we’ve been uncovering ironies about historical Hollywood, and, here’s another: movies weren’t invented in Hollywood; nor was the first movie shot there. You see, it’s actually good sir Thomas Edison, the magic man, who invented the movies, and, inadvertently, destroyed the world. Out in his East Orange, New Jersey laboratory, Mr. Edison utilized previous knowledge and adds his genius and creativity to rapidly fire still pictures, which created a motion illusion. And, notice the word illusion; once again, how fitting…
Edison’s movie-projecting invention, the Kinetoscope, attracted colossal attention at the 1893 Chicago’s World fair. In 1894, Edison opened a little joint to show his little flicks of rodeos, circuses, etc., and, you got it… this was basically your first movie theater… and, it was in New York City.
A highly important figure in the genesis of movies is Edwin Porter, and, interestingly, how many of us even know his name?
That’s how history works. Strange indeed (or we’re just ignorant fucks lolz). Anyway, Edwin Porter was a cameraman; he was also Edison’s employee. Porter’s contribution to world civilization was “contriving an event to be filmed.” The very first effort was called “The Life of an American Fireman.” Next was “The Great Train Robbery.” These little films were shown on hanging bed sheets, and, people came in droves and plopped down their nickels.
Now, make special note of this: by 1911, when Hollywood received its first film company, 5,000 movie theaters were already sprinkled across America. And, in the same year, 1911, street battles between “cowboys and Indians” were being staged. 
Again, interesting to see that right out of the gate, the absolute earliest Hollywood films created the racist and misleading depictions of the native American Indian that our nation has been plagued with throughout the 20th century, and, sadly, to the present day. And, why is it so? Why, right from the beginning, was the medium used to spread negativity?
Shortly before this, in 1909, the Bison Company journeyed from New York to LA, settling in our current suburb of Glendale. These Bison bastards also released numerous so-called Westerns. And, right about this time, in 1912, William Mulholland created an aqueduct pipeline to finally get a constant and adequate supply of water into Los Angeles. 
And, just about this time Hollywood was annexed to become a community within the larger Los Angeles. And, Hollywood’s population was already getting thick, and, developers like C.E. Toberman were on the scene, putting their buildings up.
Toberman, born 1880, was in real estate and insurance; he opened an office on Hollywood Boulevard for these purposes in 1907. In 1916, Toberman built a new office building headquarters on the corner of Hollywood and Highland. Toberman gets special mention here because he is considered one of Hollywood’s most important developers. In his lifetime, he constructed twenty-six commercial buildings. Toberman also put up a movie studio: Hollywood Center Studios, which was located on Las Palmas, south of Hollywood Boulevard; this same studio, years later, became Zoetrope when it was purchased by Francis Ford Coppola. Toberman also owned the Egyptian Theater, Chinese Theater, El Captain Theater, Kress Department Store (now salacious Frederick’s of Hollywood), and the Hollywood Storage Company on Highland.
The Krotona Colony
During the same period, in 1911, it’s important to give a mention to the Krotona Colony, which you’ll see shares the same utopian irony of the Wilcox family. Krotona was a religious colony that combined Eastern religion, Masonic love, spirituality, and science. Albert Warrington was a devout Krotona, and, he selected the Hollywood Hills as the perfect location for his utopian, religious society. All followers of Krotona were invited and many came and settled. And, so many things were going on at once, you see… for example, right about the same time, in 1910, L. Frank Baum, the writer behind the Wizard of Oz also settled in his Ozcot, which was a little north of Hollywood Boulevard and Cherokee Avenue.
Nestor: Hollywood’s First Film Company!
As mentioned, 1911 was a crucial, important year in Hollywood, as in October of that year Hollywood received its first film company. The Nestor Company was owned by brothers David and William Horsley. The Nestor Company had a staff of forty. When the Nestor Company arrived, they learned of how the holy-rolling Wilcox family had banned the devil’s juice, and, thus, the Blondeau Tavern at the corner of Sunset and Glower had just been closed.
The Birth Of Hollywood Celebrity
Oh, can you feel it! The birth of Hollywood celebrity is coming soon… to a universe near you! You see, the Nestor company gave Mrs. Blondeau (something about that Blondeau name seems so right!) her 35 buck lease, and, before you could say, “Bulimia Batman!” Hollywood had its first movie studio. They pumped out the first of many Hollywood crapola movies: Her Indian Hero; featuring, you got it, celebrities: Dorothy Davenport, Victoria Ford, and Jack Conway. And, again, what is this never-ending, pathological Hollywood obsession with Indians, and, in a larger context, creating misleading depictions of racial and ethnic identity? Really, enquiring minds want to know! I want to know! And, you can see, right from the start, the very first Hollywood movie had “Indian” in the title.Anyway, evil had been born and was furiously procreating; and, some of its seed sprayed ole Thomas Edison in the eye, and, he didn’t like it. You see, within three months of the Indian movie, fifteen other companies settled in Hollywood to churn out more crapola… I mean movies! And, movies quickly were getting dang popular. And, ole Tommy Edison was thinking, “My brain power made all this shit possible. Where’s my money bitches!!!” And, Edison started suing movie producers for patent infringement.
Thomas Edison Was No Dummie
Edison’s resistance is also crucial in understanding how movie-making and the concept of celebrity was to become so consolidated in Hollywood, California. You see, Edison licensed usage of his patent to a cabal that was known as The Trust: Vitagraph, Selig, Essany, Kalem, Rathe, Melies, and Lubin. Companies not in The Trust got the hell out of New York. The movie companies in Hollywood, however, flipped Edison the bird and, soon enough, his trust was no more than a bust.
Edison, of course, was a brilliant man. Certainly one of the brightest (no pun intended) men alive at that time. And, it’s important that we look at the warning Edison issued to the movie-makers in 1924 speech:
“I believe… that you control the most powerful instrument in the world for good or evil. Remember that you are servants of the public and never let a desire for money or power prevent you from giving to the public the best work of which you are capable. It is not the quantity of riches that count; it is the quality that produces happiness, where that is possible. I wish you a prosperous, useful, and honourable future.”
Oh, I’m tempted to say, “laughing out loud,” but, it hurts too bad! I mean… these are profound and foreboding words from Thomas Edison: servants of the public? Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Anniston, Angelina Jolie, The Olsen Pukes I mean Kids, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, et. al. I mean, we all know the list goes on and on and, are the aforementioned celebrities thought of by the public as their servants. I think not. Thomas Edison was correct in his fear and, most (though not all) of our modern celebrities have indeed let the money and desire for power control their ambitions. Perfect example is celebrity Will Smith: simply compare his early Six Degrees of Separation effort against his later Men In Black. I could hardly believe it was the same individual. But, anyway…
Continue Reading: Hollywood History Part 4
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