{Hollywood} Sony Pictures (formerly MGM)
I approached this tour rather apprehensively. Metro Goldwyn Mayer is, sadly, no more. The largest studio, the most prestigious studio, the studio that had “more stars than there are in the heavens”, Clark’s home studio for over 20 years, is gone. By the 1970’s, its glory days were nothing but a memory. The MGM name is nothing but really a name anymore, not a place. The former studio is now Sony Pictures and Sony owns Columbia and is much more proud of that than of MGM history.
I won’t get into the long, sad story of MGM’s decline here but I highly recommend this book that came out last year, MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot. I made a point of buying it and reading it before my trip and I am so glad I did. It shows you, building by building, what the lot used to look like and how lavish and extensive the studio’s 185 acre backlot was. A must read for any classic movie fan.
Knowing the history as I did, I didn’t expect much for this tour. I was warned beforehand that Sony now is most proud of its television efforts, such as Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, rather than history. If any history will be touched upon, it will be Columbia, not MGM.
This was mostly true. But MGM did sneak in here and there.
Here are the original MGM entrance gates, no longer used, but still standing as a monument to what used to be.
Any star who appeared in any MGM film crossed this threshold, driving down this familiar path. I couldn’t help but think as I looked at it about that lonely day for Clark when he drove off the lot for the final time, after 20 years of employment, and nobody said good-bye to him. He must have had a lump in his throat as he crossed under this and onto Washington Blvd.
Another shot of the gate, and you can see a poster of It Happened One Night nearby. Funny, after over 20 years of service to MGM, none of Clark’s MGM pictures is displayed or mentioned throughout the lot—only It Happened One Night, his lone Columbia feature.
One of the first things you see on the tour is the unmistakable Irving Thalberg building. Louis B. Mayer had this massive administration building built in 1938 in memory of Thalberg. It was top of the line in every way back then, with producers having their own wings and the entire building having–gasp–air conditioning! Today it looks very much the same except, I was a bit sad to note, over the door it says “Columbia Pictures.” Imagine Louis B. Mayer’s reaction to that if he knew!
Clark Gable, Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland on these very stairs, back when it said Metro Goldwyn Mayer:
We did go inside the lobby, where they house the Best Picture Oscars they have won. They were all, of course, for Columbia features. The only one of interest to me, naturally, was the one for It Happened One Night.
Our tour guide mentioned that the Thalberg building has appeared in many TV shows and movies, standing in for schools, courthouses and various office buildings. Its beautifully manicured lawn has stood in for New York City’s Central Park numerous times.
We went inside the scoring stage, now named The Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage, which was amazing in size. We were awestruck thinking of the big names whose voices had once filled it: Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Lena Horne, Doris Day, Kathryn Grayson, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole…
Nearby is the screening room, where directors and producers would view daily rushes. In 1981 it was re-named The Cary Grant Theatre. (Cary Grant being another Columbia alum). Looking from the inside out:
One of the outside facades used for exterior shooting is known as the Frank Capra Building, Capra being a renowned Columbia director (and, of course, director of It Happened One Night.)
But there are some MGM names that received the honor of their name on a building as well.
Like here is The Robert Young Building, which now contains offices, used to house the studio’s camera equiptment.
The Spencer Tracy building was once MGM’s on-site hospital.
The unique Joan Crawford building was once the famed MGM schoolhouse, where legends like Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney were taught.
Not too far from there is the old sound department building which has been christened The Myrna Loy Building.
And just beyond that lies what was the makeup department back in the MGM days and now houses production offices. It’s name? The Clark Gable Building.
Walking around the lot…
Stage 9. Interiors for Saratoga was filmed in this studio.
Stage 15 was home to interior shots of Strange Cargo. Stage 12 was used for Love on the Run.
One of the things I had really wanted to see was the original commissary. I don’t think I’ve read a bio on an MGM star yet who didn’t talk about the famed MGM commissary. I inquired to our tour guide when he was wrapping up the tour about the whereabouts of the commissary, which I knew was still standing. (Yes, I was that person on the tour who wanted to see an old commissary while everyone else was happily snapping photos of the set of Jeopardy.) He pointed to a very large, uninteresting concrete building. I said, “No…the original commissary.” He just said, “Oh, we passed it earlier…near the front.” I thought that was going to be all I got so I just said, “Ok. Thanks.” Well when we walked by it again on the way out he took us right in, since I asked!
It is now called the Rita Hayworth Dining Room (again, Rita was a Columbia-ite) and can be rented out for parties.
At the time of our visit, it was being set up for a sweet sixteen birthday party for the low, low price of $125,000. Yikes.
- Our guide stated that although the commissary remodeled and it has been downsized (the original commissary was 8,730 feet, could seat 225 and even had its own bakery in the basement), some of the original room separators and the booths still stood. And they still serve Mayer’s wife’s famous matzo ball soup. Which has gone slightly up in price from $0.10 to $13!
Above the commissary used to be the famed Art Department, run by Cedric Gibbons.
I couldn’t help but be saddened by this tour, when I thought of the incredible number of Hollywood legends that had walked these grounds and the amazing films that were filmed right here, and so little of it is left.
Our tour guide pointed out that the only remnants that bear the MGM name are three original manhole covers on the streets. They had an appraiser come in and he valued them at $64,000 apiece and soon there will be little plaques over them stating this.
Louis B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Franchot Tone, Jean Harlow, Robert Taylor, Jimmy Stewart, Jeannette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Hedy Lamarr, Greer Garson, Lana Turner, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra…and all that’s left is manhole covers.
22 Comments
Vincent
I’ve frequently quipped that somewhere in the Hollywood afterlife, Harry Cohn is relentlessly ribbing Louis B. Mayer that the company he founded now occupies the site Louis B. called home for decades. (Though, just to set the record straight, MGM wasn’t the first cinematic occupant of the property. It was built by noted silent filmmaker Thomas Ince as the headquarters for the Triangle Studios in 1914. Ince was later bought out, then built another studio down Washington Boulevard, which later housed Pathe, RKO and Selznick International Pictures, among others.) The next time I’m in Los Angeles, I will have to visit Culver City and take the tour.
Hassie
I, like you, was most saddened to read this post about your visit to MGM especially that more people were interested in seeing sets of Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy instead of experiencing the history that was all around them. I think this helps to explain why Debbie Reynolds was never able to see her dream of building a permanent museum dedicated to the props ands costumes of classic films become a reality. I especially enjoyed seeing the original MGM gates and also the commissary. I could just envision Clark, Spencer, and all the movie greats passing thru them. And now they stand idle as a monument to the past.
Pam
Martin Turnbull
Yes, it’s very disappointing that the tour they give is so heavily skewed to Columbia but you managed wonderfully well to dig out the MGM nuggets still buried here and there around the lot. For anyone thinking of doing the tour in the future, my advice is to let the guide know at the very start of the tour that you’re keen to hear as much “old MGM stuff” as possible. I was about halfway through the tour when I asked our guide. He seemed surprised that anyone would be interested but happily obliged for the rest of the tour.
Heather
So sad that the great MGM is for all intents and purposes no more. Great photos and wonderful job of tracking down as much of MGM’s history as you did. It must have been amazing to walk where all the great starts once walked.
Johnny Troendle
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Carolyn Quinn
What a fantastic post this is! Thank you for uploading so many pictures. I feel as if I was on the tour myself – bravo!
admin
Thank you!
Graham Williamson
Thoroughly enjoyed reading you report on the “MGM Tour” that you took. I too have the “MGM Hollywoods Greatest Backlot” book and have read it and referred to it so many times, only wish that I could have actually toured MGM and its backlots in their heyday.
Thanks for sharing, much appreciated.
RA_Whipple
Thank you for your photos, especially taking the time to do front to back views and interspersing now and then pictures. They give a sense of the history that was lacking on your tour. (It is a shame everything, including history, is commodified and, ironically, in the artistic motion picture industry that has often relied on history.)
Others have said it and will continue to say it but I also want to throw my hat into the ring and express my thanks for your work here. Thank you.
Holly
Thank you so much for the tour highlights. I had visited Hollywood but did not get to visit Culver City. So sad that the MGM legend is overshadowed by Columbia. To see those magnificent gates that Jean Harlow is seen entering in Bombshell saddens me. I am glad they at least did not tear them down. A building named after Clark is a nice touch. I think MGM history should be included in the tour, not forgotten. Hollywood looked like it has forgotten , tearing down history and putting up parking lots, cracked Hollywood stars on the walk. The tour I took did mention the building at the corner of Hollywood and Vine where Clark Gable was to have played craps in the basement. I did go inside later and it looked as if it hadn’t been updated, which was a nice vintage atmosphere.
Kimberly
Love all you posted. Amazing, sad, remarkable, wonderful, sad…Lovely…All things fade away, but memories no one can ever take away…
cindy mispilkin
Thank you so much for this post and the wonderful pictures. I am a huge MGM and classic Hollywood fan, so much so that I moved to socal from Fl. 3 years ago. My first outing was to do the MGM/Sony tour. It was VERY disappointing to have the guide pass over the great MGM history. He would not let anyone take pictures once we were past the front part of the studio. He said it was for the privacy of filming being done or some such excuse. I did not get any pictures of my beloved MGM. You have made my day with yours !!!Thank you again
Alix
I just found this website. What a great write up on the old lot. I worked there fro 1983 – 1989. I started in the mail room so I was able to go all over every nook and cranny of the lot. We were still MGM then of course. I am glad to see they have kept the school house — it was called the Garland bldg back when I was there. The old elevator in the Gable Bldg. (they kept the name from the 80s) was an amazing old things where they door swung out. Bet that’s gone now. The commissary was wonderful — still had the old look to it until Lorimar and then Sony took over. Oh well at least some things have remained — especially the wonderful Thalberg bldg. I worked there mostly. There were still some old time employees left while I was there. One memorable one was ‘Millie’ — she was a night janitor. She had started there in 1941. She would tell us about Louis B. Mayer and his office which was still in tact on the 3rd floor. Had a fireplace and wet bar. Millie would walk up and down the hall cleaning — all the while with a cigarette in her mouth! Never could do that today.
admin
Wow! That is fascinating! Thank you Alix!
Peggy Hill
Once Again, thank you soo very much! So much of Old Hollywood is forgotten, but thanks to folks like yourself it’s being kept alive. I’m glad you told us about what’s not there from MGM days as My husband & I are making plans to visit in the near future. Kudos to you!
admin
Thank you Peggy!
Ken Craig
Where was Irving Thalberg’s office located. NOT the Thalberg Building, but Thalberg’s office, where the $1 million bench was located too?
Alix
Thalberg’s office was in a building called the Metro Bldg (at least that is what it was called in the 80s).. It was that building you see in one of the above pictures — the building that is attached to the entrance gates. It has since been taken down — though they left the gates.
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Denver Valenta
Thank you for sharing.
Ron Wolf
The demise of MGM started in 1970 with the big auction and sale of some many treasures the studio owned for decades, I was there and got to walk all over the main Lot, Lot 2 and 3 and see all the wonderful sets on those backlots and to see all the stuff MGM kept since the beginning, it just totally amazed me. The studio sold the backlots and they were demolished. The last sale took place in Stage 27, a huge sound stage filled with thousands of old costumes from way back, you could walk in and buy anything right off the racks, this lasted for a whole month and new items were brought in everyday, they had men’s suits from the 1800’s to 1965, if you looked in the inside breast pocked, you would find an MGM tag with the stars name on, I found some of Clark Gable’s outfits, Stan Laurel’s suit, Oliver Hardy’s pants for 50 cents, it was incredible, as the sale got closer to the end, the prices were reduced until the last day, every item was $1 and they still had thousands of items left. I asked if there was anymore Clark Gable wardrobe left, they took me to another sound stage and showed me hundreds of men’s white dress shirts hanging on racks with tags of so many stars from the past, it was incredible. When Sony-Columbia bought the studio, they demolished a lot of the old buildings on the main lot, including glass walled buildings used for shooting silent movies, many shop buildings were demolished for parking structures. The ghosts are hiding in the old sound stages.
Michael West
This is absolutely wonderful. It’s so good to know others care about the history of this lot. I don’t care what they call it now or what they try to erase, it will ALWAYS be MGM to me. Thank you for sharing.