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History of
Sunset
Gower Studios
Poverty Row. When Harry Cohn, a song-plugger from New York came to the west coast in 1920 to
seek fame and fortune, he came to where all the “little guys” settled. Poverty Row was the area
bound by Sunset Boulevard on the North, Gower Street on the West, and Beachwood Drive on the
East. It was a ragtag collection of small warehouses and vest pocket offices
where the independent film makers gathered to buy “short ends” of film from
the major studios, in order to create their “great American dreams”. Harry
along with his brother, Jack, and Joe Brandt started a company, CBC Film Sales.
CBC became known around the major studios as Corned Beef and Cabbage.
With Harry, a proud man, that sobriquet did not sit well. On January 10, 1924
Columbia Pictures Corporation was born. By 1929 the familiar image of the lady
with the torch was beginning to make an impact on the Hollywood scene.
Enter director Frank Capra. Capra’s first film for Columbia was “THAT CERTAIN THING” in 1927, a
modest film that served the studio well, and Cohn, Capra and Columbia were on their way.
“SUBMARINE” in 1928 followed. It was Columbia’s first film with sound effects. Capra, along with
screenwriter Robert Riskin teamed to put Columbia Pictures and Harry Cohn firmly in the Hollywood
Pantheon with a series of talking films including, “IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT” in 1934, “MR. SMITH
GOES TO WASHINGTON” in 1936, and “YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU” in 1938, as well as “LOST
HORIZON” in 1937, and ending with “MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN” in 1939.
Corned Beef and Cabbage was no more.
Columbia Pictures Corporation continued with such films as “FROM HERE TO ETERNITY”, “ON THE
WATERFRONT”, “ PAL JOEY”, “PICNIC”, “ALL THE KING’S MEN”, “BORN YESTERDAY”, “THE BRIDGE
ON THE RIVER KWAI” and a host of other Oscar winners.
In 1958 at age 66 Harry Cohn died. His Memorial service was held on stages 12 and 14 here on the
lot. (There is no stage 13).
Without the guidance of the Cohn Brothers, Columbia Picture Corporation was not the profit-making
company it once was. Between 1970 and 1972, Columbia moved from the 14 acre lot, and joined
forces with Warner Bros. in Burbank. Its “back lot” on which all the great Columbia westerns were
made on Hollywood Way in Burbank became the property of Warner Bros.
Columbia Pictures Corporation, renamed Columbia Pictures Industries, Incorporated, became a film
entity without real estate. A large list of successful films were produced during this time, and in
1982 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. was sold to Coca Cola in a cash and stock deal valued
between $700 an $800 million.
The lot, in the meantime, sat fallow. In 1977 the property was purchased by the Pick Vanoff
Company. It underwent a name change to its present name Sunset Gower Studios. The lot became a
rental facility for independent film companies. It was also used in the seventies as a music rehearsal
facility catering to such music greats as Elton John, Ringo Starr, Frank Zappa, and Olivia Newton
John. For a time stages 12 and 14 became indoor tennis courts.
Sunset Gower Studio was active as a rental facility until the end of the millennium.
In November 2004, Sunset Gower Studios was purchased by GI Partners, and in 2006 under the
direction of chief executive officer Robert Papazian, construction was started on the six-story
building for Technicolor as well as a five-year beautification plan. Sunset Gower Studios lives on,
and Poverty Row is no more. . .