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Creating Century City: Twentieth Century Fox and Urban Development in West Los Angeles, 1920-1975 Stephanie Frank Ph.D. Candidate, School of Policy, Planning, and Development, USC [email protected]

INTRODUCTION

The Fox Film Corporation, which later merged with Twentieth Century Pictures, purchased land in the undeveloped urban fringe of Los Angeles now known as West Los

Angeles in 1923 in order to expand its operations from its plant in Hollywood. While there was virtually no other development in the vicinity, real estate companies, primarily the Janss

Investment Company who sold Fox its land, subdivided the area surrounding the studio for single-family homes. No Sanborn Fire Insurance Map was created for the area until 1932, four years after Fox had built its studio. Other maps indicate the area remained relatively sparsely developed until the postwar period.

By the time Fox decided to redevelop, and eventually to sell for redevelopment, its 280- acre property in the late 1950s, the surrounding area was completely developed. On Fox’s former backlot rose Century City, a master-planned Corbusian-inspired node of commercial, residential, and cultural activities in large-tower superblocks. This “city within a city” was a paradigm of

1960s planning that reinforced Los Angeles’s polycentric structure and remains an important economic center today. In the age of federally-funded urban renewal projects that wiped out the inner cores of cities across the country, including Los Angeles’s Bunker Hill, Century City was the largest privately-financed urban development in the country to that point in time. Most histories of urban developments in the middle of the twentieth century are analyzed through the lens of urban renewal and narratives of decline.1 However, this story of Century City departs

1 See for example: Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Vintage Books, 1961); R. Scott Fosler and Renee A. Berger, Eds, Public-Private Partnership in American Cities: Seven Case Studies

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 1 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION from such well-treaded territory by following the motives and desires of the large landowner,

Twentieth Century-Fox, whose economic difficulties were not completely unrelated to the changes in postwar American urban life that contributed to the radical restructuring of American cities at mid-century. The physically changing landscape (such as mass suburbanization) contributed to the changing entertainment landscape (such as the rise of television) that challenged the business model and profitability of the American film industry. Century City was not an attempt to revitalize that portion of Los Angeles, even if it did provide an important center of economic activity, but instead Fox’s response to losing money through its studio operations. It would not have been possible to create such a place had it not been for Fox’s land-use decisions—chiefly to acquire the land and relinquish it when it did.

Urban legend informs that the disastrous budget-busting production Cleopatra (1963) forced the sell-off of Fox’s land. This notion, propagated by the press, serves as Century City’s creation myth. Even an undated press release from the Century City Chamber of Commerce cites the film’s role in bankrupting the company to the point requiring the sale of the land to rescue it from ruin.2 However, the timeline and financial facts contradict this story. The film industry was changing; more location shooting meant sound stages sat empty. One analyst examined Fox’s financial records and determined that nothing was as expensive as operating a studio.3 Fox

President Spyrous Skouras publicly announced the studio’s intention to develop Century City in

1957. Meanwhile, Cleopatra was on budget and on schedule until mid-1960.4

(Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1982); Jon C. Teaford, The Rough Road to Renaissance: Urban Revitalization in America, 1940-1985 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990). 2 Century City Chamber of Commerce, “The Century City Story,” undated press release, Century City California Vertical File, Los Angeles Public Library. 3 Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press, 2002), 137. 4 Solomon, 141.

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Therefore, it was a long-standing uncertain economic climate and the dramatic appreciation of the land that led to the decision to develop and sell the land. In other words, it was an escape from unprofitability and the burden of a studio’s fixed costs. Beginning around

1920 and continuing until a 1948 U.S. Supreme Court decision mandated the selling of film companies’ movie theater chains, the film industry was dominated by five major film companies that were completely vertically integrated corporations (three minor majors were partially integrated, lacking theater networks for exhibition). This period is referred to as the studio era. In the post-studio era, fewer films were made and the profits varied in an uncertain entertainment landscape with the growing challenged posed by television. However, after Fox sold its land, the studio entered an extremely productive period, operating at capacity at its own facilities and renting others in order to meet demand. More than ten years later it repurchased the remaining studio land it had been renting with the intent to redevelop it into luxury condos and commercial space. When that plan fell through, again, Fox entered another productive era, and the studio operated over capacity. The core of the Fox studio remains an active production center to this day. This cycle leads me to question Fox’s refrain that its manufacturing plants consumed land more valuable for other purposes.

WILLIAM FOX AND THE FOX FILM CORPORATION

Similar to fellow film moguls, William Fox was a Jewish European immigrant to New

York City that, despite limited education, first found business success in the garment industry. In

1903, at the age of 24, Fox sold his cloth-shrinking business and used some of the profits to purchase a nickelodeon in Brooklyn. The following year, he founded the Greater New York Film

Rental Company to distribute films to his growing chain of movie theaters. Following a foray into legitimate theater and stage production, Fox began producing his own films in 1914 and

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 3 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION incorporated the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 in New York City. Fox located his first film studio on Staten Island. In 1917, the company rented production space in Los Angeles and established a permanent facility in Hollywood at Sunset and Western a couple years later.5 Like other major film companies, Fox’s corporate headquarters remained in New York until the

1970s. Thus, all decisions, including those about land use in Los Angeles, emanated from New

York City.

FROM HOLLYWOOD TO THE URBAN FRINGE

The historical record is mum on why and when Fox made the decision to escape from

Hollywood. The likely story was a result of the maturation of the film industry and the standardization of manufacturing practices that anticipated greater land consumption. Land was cheap and plentiful on Los Angeles’s urban fringe, especially to the southwest of Hollywood, where Fox eventually settled. Around the time Fox sought more acreage, new firms were locating outside Hollywood, where film had briefly concentrated in the 1910s. The newly subdivided and incorporated Culver City became a location of choice. However, most established firms remained in Hollywood; companies, such as Warner Bros., who eventually settled larger acreage in Burbank, did so in the 1930s. Fox was an early migrant out of

Hollywood, following the Universal Film Manufacturing Company’s lead. Universal, ahead of film manufacturing trends, was the first major studio to leave Hollywood for the undeveloped fringe. Universal City, announced in 1914 and opened in 1915, was a complete manufacturing plant in the San Fernando Valley, on the other side of the Cahuenga Pass from Hollywood. Film historian Mark Garrett Cooper notes that Universal was not the first to envision a film studio that resembled a town, including living quarters within its boundaries, but it was the first to propose a

5 Douglas Gomery, The Hollywood Studio System: A History (London: British Film Institute, 2005), 37-38.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 4 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION city, complete with an elected government. Universal City was originally planned along the lines of a traditional company town, due in part to the location’s isolation from developed Los

Angeles, but that plan did not materialize. Meanwhile the elections were more of a promotional tool than a legal reality.6

Fox Film Corporation purchased the first portion of what became the West Los Angeles plant in 1923. In March and April 1923, real estate agents and property owners notified Fox’s lawyers at the firm of Bauer, Wright & MacDonald of land they had available for sale for Fox’s studio expansion plans. Most of the offers were located in the remote farmland of the San

Fernando Valley; those properties were declined as “a little too far removed from the city to be of benefit for their purposes.”7 The only property offered in the San Fernando Valley they considered was one near Universal City.8 By April 17, 1923, John C. Eisele, Treasurer of the Fox

Film Corporation, based in New York City, had agreed to purchase property from the Janss

Investment Company. On May 5, 1923, they executed a contract for $300,000 for just under 100 acres of land between Santa Monica and Pico Boulevards just west of the Beverly Hills city limit.9

Soon after the purchase, Fox proceeded with plans to zone the property for film manufacturing. In August 1923, Fox’s lawyers wrote Dr. Edwin Janss of the Janss Investment

Company for assistance in moving through a petition to the City Planning Commission for the zoning of the site. Janss was tapped for his “contact with the Zoning Commission and the ‘High

6 Mark Garrett Cooper, Universal Women: Filmmaking and Institutional Change in Early Hollywood (Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2010), 50, 62-70. 7 Various correspondence, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” Box 836, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 8 Letter from Bauer, Wright & MacDonald to C.W. Howkings dated 10 April 1923, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” Box 836, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 9 Western Union Telegram from John C. Eisele to Alfred Wright dated 17 April 1923, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” Box 836, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections; Letter from John Eisele to Afred Wright dated 25 May 1923, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” Box 836, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections.

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Priest of the City Beautiful’ department.”10 The Janss Investment Company was what historian

Marc A. Weiss described as a community builder involved in “changes at the moderate end.”11

Janss and its cohort of builders purchased land, subdivided it, and built single-family homes in the subdivisions along with creating other community amenities in contrast to earlier community builders who only subdivided the land for sale to wealthy individuals who then commissioned unique homes. Fox’s lawyers likely assumed that such activities brought Janss in frequent contact with planning officials, which may have been the case. However, zoning for residential use was distinctly different than manufacturing, especially film manufacturing, which the Los

Angeles City Council had designated in specific districts beginning in 1919.12 In October 1923, the City Planning Commission recommended the petition be granted and the City Council and

City Attorney took the appropriate actions to zone the property via ordinance.13

One of the first land-use actions Fox engaged after purchasing the property was the grading and improvement of Santa Monica Boulevard along its northern boundary. With the purchase, Janss Investment Company demanded and thus Fox promised the improvement of

Santa Monica Boulevard. In late 1924, Fox received pressure from the Sawtelle and Hollywood

Chambers of Commerce and others to commence the improvement. They offered to pay half the cost of paving, sidewalks, and curbs if Fox would pay for the grading and other half. Fox lawyers

10 Letter from Bauer, Wright & MacDonald to Dr. Edwin Janss dated 13 Aug. 1923, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” Box 836, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 11 Marc A. Weiss, The Rise of the Community Builders: The American Real Estate Industry and Urban Land Planning (New York: Columbia University Press, 1987), 2. 12 Ordinance 38,750 (N.S.), Box B-1413, Los Angeles City Archives. 13 “Zoning of Westwood Studio Property” in Fox File 5/18/27, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” Box 836, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections; City Planning Commission Minutes, 28 Sept. 1923, vol. 4, p. 226-227, Box C-408, Los Angeles City Archives.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 6 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION urged the company to take up the offer since it would be a savings of $6,000; Fox would pay

$12,000 rather than $18,000.14

In April 1925, concerns surfaced that new neighbors of the future Fox film studio would challenge its zoning as a nuisance and force the relocation of the plant. Although the area was virtually undeveloped when Fox purchased the land, the Janss Investment Company, in the two years since, had subdivided vast acreage in the general vicinity for single-family homes and donated land to the University of California for its Southern Branch (later University of

California, Los Angeles or UCLA). Sol Wurtzel, General Superintendent of the William Fox

Vaudeville Co., based in Los Angeles, wrote to lawyer Alfred Wright to inquire about permission to build either temporary or permanent stages on the land to claim its use. William

Fox, himself, was concerned that people purchasing new homes in the vicinity would petition to rezone the property. Subsequent correspondence between lawyers indicates that the Regents of the University of California did not favor the location of their new university near film studios.

Ultimately, Wright advised Wurtzel that the company should not build anything on the land unless it will aid in film production. California Supreme Court precedent could compel Fox to remove film production facilities from the site—as it had with laundries and brickyards—if the zoning were successfully challenged.15

The gap in the historical record indicates that Fox heeded the advice and did not build anything on the property for the next three years. In 1928, Fox quickly constructed a new studio plant in order to manufacture sound films.

14 Letter from Bauer, Wright & MacDonald to William Fox dated 11 Dec. 1924, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” Box 836, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 15 Letter from Sol Wurtzel to Alfred Wright dated 6 April 1925, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” Box 836, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections; Letter from A.W. to Mr. Lester dated 13 April 1925, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” Box 836, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections; Letter from Bauer, Wright & MacDonald to Sol Wurtzel dated 24 April 1925, “Purchase of New Studio Property,” Box 836, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections.

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BUILDING THE STUDIO

On October 28, 1928, the Fox Film Corporation dedicated its new Movietone City, named for Fox’s newly-innovated sound-on-film process, studio plant in West Los Angeles.

Fifty thousand people were invited to the celebration, which featured the Al Malaikah Shrine and the Roberts Golden State Bands, invocations by local clergy, and appearances by celebrities. In ninety days, 350 men working in three shifts around the clock had nearly completed the first set of studio buildings. Structures finished in time for the opening included four sound-proof stages in two buildings, the administration building, a film storage vault with capacity for two million feet of film, a hospital, a musical library and orchestration building, a master projection room building, a wardrobe supply building, a two-story dressing-room, power plants, and other industrial facilities. One sound-proof stage twice the size of those completed was nearly ready and four more sound-proof stages in two buildings were to begin construction within a few days.

Partially completed was the 14-foot wall surrounding the forty-acre manufacturing plant valued at $10 million.16

The Los Angeles Times article announcing the opening of the studio focused on the innovative infrastructure, and for good reason: this was the first studio purpose-built for sound- on-film production. Complete with didactic illustrations of the features of sound-proof stages on the new lot, the article detailed the complex systems involved. Designed by expert G.H.

Mulldorfer, the sound-proof stages are each a building within a building in order to omit unwanted sounds. A concrete shell encases an unattached inner building padded with cork.

Mulldorfer claimed airplanes could fly directly above or an earthquake could rattle below

16 William M. Henry, “Millions Spent in Sound-Proof Stages For Making of Talking Pictures,” Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 1928, 20th Century Fox Movietone News Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 8 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION without interrupting filming. The sealed-off nature of sound stages created a challenge for ventilation, however. A separate air conditioning unit pumped air in and out of the stages, heating or cooling as needed, without the aid of fans or other vibration-producing mechanisms.

The air conditioning pant was the largest on the West Coast at the time with the capacity to transform 350 tons of air per day.17

Fox’s pioneering efforts in sound transformed the company from B-movie status to a major studio. According to Angela Fox Dunn, William Fox’s niece and biographer, in 1926, Fox was ranked number seven among studios by the trade papers, but had risen to number three, behind Paramount and MGM, three years later. This dramatic ascent was due to Fox’s foresight with investment in Movietone sound-on-film technology ahead of the pack. Fox’s technology beat Warner Bros. sound-on-disc for the industry standard. Toward that end, Fox was the first studio to make an all-talking short, the first sound newsreel, and the first sound film outdoors.

These achievements, beginning in 1926, led to investment in a new studio plant for sound production and boosted Mr. Fox’s ego. In March 1929, he acquired via stock purchase control of

Loew’s Inc., MGM’s parent company.18 In the end, Fox’s hubris got the best of him. He leveraged his entire empire on success, but as it turned out, Fox expanded too fast. He was badly injured in an automobile accident in July 1929. When he returned to work, the stock market had crashed and he was sued by the government for violation of anti-trust laws and by creditors seeking their money. The following April, the Fox Board of Directors pushed out the company’s

17 William M. Henry, “Millions Spent in Sound-Proof Stages For Making of Talking Pictures,” Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 1928, 20th Century Fox Movietone News Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 18 Angela Fox Dunn, “When the Eage Swallowed a Lion,” Los Angeles Times, 21 May 1978, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1978) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Gomery, 41-43.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 9 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION founder.19 The company floundered until Fox merged with Joseph Schenck’s Twentieth Century

Pictures in 1935 to form Twentieth Century-Fox (the hyphen eventually disappeared).20

In the 1930s and 1940s, Fox expanded its West Los Angeles property. In 1936, the newly merged Twentieth Century-Fox purchased from Fox Hills Realty Company 97.62 acres for

$537,700. The land, adjacent to the eastern boundary of the studio, extended to Health Avenue south of Olympic Boulevard and north of Pico Boulevard.21 The Works Progress Administration

(WPA) Land Use map of the City of Los Angeles, however, still illustrated this area as a golf course in 1939, indicating that it is unlikely the land use had changed since its purchase.22 In

1943, Fox completed its land acquisition for the West Los Angeles studio with the purchase of the golf course north of Olympic Boulevard to Santa Monica Boulevard, from the studio boundary to Health Avenue. The 89.349 acres, purchased by the studio’s subsidiary Fox Realty

Corporation of California from Fox Hills Realty Company, cost $491,419.50. Along with the deed to the land, the purchase agreement included the removal of restrictions for drilling for oil and natural gas on the previous two land purchases.23 After relinquishing his post as president of the company, Spyros P. Skouras claimed credit for this last land purchase, early in his presidency, despite the objections of the Board of Directors. Skouras also boasted about convincing the Board to exploit the oil rights on the property.24 Fox engaged the Universal

19 Gomery, 43-44. 20 Gomery, 116. 21 Appellant’s Brief Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation v. Paul C. Teas, et al., United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, No. 18,245, pp. 2-3, “Fox Realty Corporation,” Box 499, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 22 Department of City Planning, City of Los Angeles Land Use Map, 1939-1940, Vol. 7, Sheet 34, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. 23 Appellant’s Brief Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation v. Paul C. Teas, et al., United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, No. 18,245, pp. 2-4, “Fox Realty Corporation,” Box 499, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 24 Memo by Spyros P. Skouras with letter addressed to Darryl F. Zanuck dated 17 Dec. 1963, Box 1, Folder 8, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

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Consolidated Oil company in the early 1950s. Fox first earned royalties from the oil in 1955.25

By 1963, Skouras reported that Fox had received nearly $3.4 million in profit, with no expenditures, from the oil rights.26 Additionally, during the rezoning of this portion of the land,

Beverly Hills residents, adjoining the studio, forced a 250-foot buffer zone of single-family residential along this eastern boundary. They took this action in order to limit Fox’s potential nuisance, especially in views created by towering sets, according to later assessments from Fox’s director of property development.27

On the recently acquired land, Fox expanded its production facilities in 1946. In addition to some remodeling, the building campaign included three new sound stages, a five-story wardrobe building, a prop storage building, a two-story production office building, scene dock buildings, and two rehearsal halls. Additional industrial facilities were also constructed, including a powerhouse, an electrical building, an incinerator, new storm drains, and electrical work.28

MERGER POSSIBILITIES

Signaling economic troubles after the collapse of the studio system and the sale of lucrative nation-wide movie theater interests, rumors surfaced in September 1952 that Fox and

MGM were planning to merge. Infamous Los Angeles Times gossip columnist Hedda Hopper reported that Fox production executive Joseph Schenck was close to sealing a merger deal with his brother Nicholas, president of Loews Inc. (parent company of MGM). Hopper reported that

25 Spyros P. Skouras, Twentieth Century Fox Stockholders Meeting Speech, 15 May 1956, Box 80, Folder 52, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 26 Memo by Spyros P. Skouras with letter addressed to Darryl F. Zanuck dated 17 Dec. 1963, Box 1, Folder 8, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 27 Letter from Edmond E. Herrscher to Spyros P. Skouras dated 18 March 1958, Box 44, Folder 7, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 28 “New Buildings Planned By 20th Century-Fox,” Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb. 1946, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1946-1948) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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MGM’s facilities would produce films for theaters and Fox’s plant, already heavily invested in television, would churn out product for TV. Meanwhile, Darryl Zanuck, production head since

Twentieth Century and Fox merged in 1935, would depart to head up RKO, recently acquired by a Chicago syndicate. Hopper reported that both studios denied these rumors. The next day, the

Hollywood Reporter also cited the denials of both studio chiefs, Spyros Skouras and Nicholas

Schenck.29

Less than five years later, Fox, in the midst of reconsidering its real estate holdings, did seriously enter talks to merge, first with Warner Bros. and then with MGM. The Hollywood

Reporter informed that the Fox-Warner merger failed when the firms could not agree on the small details of a deal that would see all production on the Warner lot. The MGM deal would also concentrate all production at its vast Culver City plant. Reportedly, Fox and MGM focused on the small details first in order not to repeat the same fate as the previous merger attempt.30 In

February 1957, Skouras confirmed reports that Fox was negotiating a merger with MGM and considering whether to concentrate all production activities at MGM and vacating its West Los

Angeles studio or retaining production there in a smaller area.31 In May of the same year,

Skouras announced the studio’s intentions at the annual meeting of stockholders. Ultimately,

Skouras informed, the decision whether to completely vacate the West Los Angeles studio site

(either to MGM or the Malibu ranch property) or concentrate production in a smaller portion

29 Hedda Hopper, “20th Century-Fox-MGM Consolidation Rumored,” Los Angeles Times, 25 Sept. 1952, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1950-1953) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Hog-Wild Rumor,” Hollywood Reporter, 26 Sept. 1952, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1950-1953) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 30 20th-MGM Near Deal on Merging Prod’n at Metro,” Hollywood Reporter, 8 Jan. 1957, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 31 “20th Expores Move to MGM,” Beverly Hills-Citizen, 27 Feb. 1957, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954- 1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 12 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION would depend on the results of the analysis conducted by consultants Welton Beckett &

Associates and Homer Hoyt Associates.32

CREATING CENTURY CITY

Recent attempts to merge with Warner Bros. and then MGM signaled financial difficulties even if public records indicated that Fox had been operating at a profit since 1941.33

While overall the company made a profit, the core of its business—the production and distribution of films—operated in the red.34 The need to curb losses in Fox’s principal business motivated Skouras to investigate other revenue sources and possibilities with its large real estate holdings. The fixed costs associated with motion-picture production—the overhead attached to each film as a portion of the general upkeep of the studio—inflated the budgets of films with uncertain and variable performance at the box office in a changing landscape of entertainment.

As early as the May 1956 stockholders’ meeting, Skouras announced that the company was considering disposing of some of its assets not necessary to the production of motion pictures. These assets included real estate, a large library of motion pictures, and interests in oil production.35

In July 1956, Skouras’s nephew-in-law and attorney turned aspiring real estate magnate,

Edmond Herrscher recommended Fox engage the services of Welton Becket and Associates to

32 “20th May Move Onto Metro Lot,” Daily Variety, 22 May 1957, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 33 20th-MGM Near Deal on Merging Prod’n at Metro,” Hollywood Reporter, 8 Jan. 1957, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “20th Expores Move to MGM,” Beverly Hills-Citizen, 27 Feb. 1957, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation/Fox Film Corporation Selected Financial Data: 1927-1976, Daily Variety, 25 Oct. 1977, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (July – December 1977) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 34 Spyros P. Skouras, Twentieth Century Fox Stockholder Meeting Speech, 21 May 1957, Box 80, Folder 53, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 35 Spyros P. Skouras, Twentieth Century Fox Stockholder Meeting Speech, 15 May 1956, Box 80, Folder 52, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 13 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION plan the future development on the Fox studio property.36 On October 1, 1956, following discussions with executives, Welton Becket submitted to Fox a contract for his firm to execute a land use study and master plan of the West Los Angeles studio property. The agreement included a four-point economic survey and analysis, including determining the most profitable use of the land and suggestions for structures most suited to it, gathering and evaluating information on land values, studying the effects of proposed freeways on proposed development and other traffic patterns, and providing economic data to interest investors. The $60,000 fee, paid over the six months of work, for Welton Becket and Associates also purchased a comprehensive master plan of the site, schematic renderings of the plan, drawings and a block model of the development, rendered solutions to screen or blend oil wells and related facilities, and six printed brochures advertising the master plan to potential purchasers, developers, or lessees. The contract stated that the firm strongly preferred to master plan the entire site, but it would provide alternative partial planning should Fox dictate it.37

According to Los Angeles Times reporting of the annual shareholders’ meeting in May

1957, Skouras announced Fox’s “very likely” plans to develop the “Radio City of the West” with office buildings, apartment houses, and stores on its studio property.38 Studio operations would either remain on the lot in a concentrated area or completely removed to Fox’s ranch near Malibu or to MGM in Culver City, with whom Fox was negotiating a merger of their physical properties

(but not their business interests). Skouras informed shareholders that for many months Welton

Becket & Associates, assisted by Homer Hoyt Associates, had been conducting a land use survey

36 Letter from Edmond E. Herrscher to Spyros P. Skouras dated 8 July 1958, Box 44, Folder 8, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 37 Letter from Welton Becket to the Attention of F.L.Metzler dated 1 Oct. 1956, Box 44, Folder 6, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 38 “Delveopment Plan for Studio Told,” Los Angeles Times, 23 May 1957, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 14 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION of the main studio property in West Los Angeles. While the results would still be unknown for some time, Skouras anticipated the report to recommend commercial and residential development for the “more valuable acreage.”39

In a letter to Skouras in May 1957, Edmond Herrscher wrote to offer advice on the development of Century City. Herrscher praised the developments, mainly the hiring of Welton

Becket, since they last spoke about the project the year before. Herrscher promised that Fox’s property had all the “necessary ingredients of value” in usefulness, desirability, and scarcity. He recommended that regardless of the structure of the deal to sell or lease the land for development, Fox should retain its oil and mineral rights. Herrscher also offered his estimated value of the property, excluding 60 acres for the remainder of the studio and oil rights, at $50 to

$75 million. He further suggested that after the 200 acres had been developed it would enhance the value of the remaining studio property by $25 million.40

In his reply to Herrscher, Skouras praised the unsolicited missive as one of the most inspiring letters he had ever read.41 The character of Herrscher’s letter suggested he was angling for a position in assessing and handling Fox’s real estate interests since he devoted an entire page to recounting his credentials to his uncle along with laudatory language. His jockeying paid off when Herrscher was hired as Fox’s Director of Property Development effective July 1, 1957.42

In September 1957, Walter Shorenstein, partner in the Milton Meyer & Co. real estate firm based in San Francisco, wrote to Edmond Herrscher offering assistance with the Century

39 “Delveopment Plan for Studio Told,” Los Angeles Times, 23 May 1957, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Spyros P. Skouras, Twentieth Century Fox Stockholder Meeting Speech, 21 May 1957, Box 80, Folder 53, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 40 Letter from Edmond E. Herrscher to Spyros Skouras dated 9 May 1957, Box 44, Folder 6, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 41 Letter from Spyros Skouras to Edmond Herrscher dated 16 May 1957, Box 44, Folder 6, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 42 Letter from Edmond E. Herrscher to Spyros P. Skouras dated 8 July 1958, Box 44, Folder 8, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 15 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION

City development and informing him that Fred Gebers had recently joined the firm as a partner who would head the new Los Angeles office. Shorenstein met with Fred Metzler and John Healy at Fox the previous month to discuss the studio’s requirements. From their discussions,

Shorenstein recommended, in order to raise the $12 million capital necessary for plant improvements, that Fox sell the land, including the 80-acre studio component, and lease back that portion of the property in a motion called a sale-leaseback. The tone and the extent to which

Shorenstein goes on to sell the attractiveness of the development—in a rapidly growing metropolis with property located with great proximity to exclusive Beverly Hills—suggests

Milton Meyer was angling to handle the real estate transactions. Shorenstein even offered to further study the potential at no obligation to Fox.43

In October 1957, Edmond Herrscher provided Skouras with a ten-page memo, including a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of six strategies for managing the Century

City development. Herrscher did not make any recommendations as to which strategy he would advise following. Nor did he analyze the ultimate path taken (the sale-leaseback), but the nearest option was the outright sale of the land excluding the 80-acre core studio property and oil rights.

Under that rubric, Herrscher listed two advantages: qualifying for capital gains tax and the proceeds would be available for corporate purposes. Meanwhile, he enumerated seven disadvantages, including that the purchaser would likely dispose of the property at a

“considerable gain” and that the sale would mean the loss of a “valuable nest egg for a ‘rainy day.’” According to Herrscher’s estimates, the value of the real estate was $80 million, the anticipated costs of buildings, improvements, and infrastructure was $230 million, and that the net income from the development of Century City should be $12 million. Following these

43 Letter from Walter H, Shorenstein to Edmond E. Herrscher dated 3 Sept. 1957, Box 44, Folder 6, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 16 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION estimates, Herrscher affirmed Skouras’s $70 million asking price for the land and oil rights. His report also included a list of parties interested in the development, including Sheraton Hotels, department stores, several supermarket chains, insurance companies, multiple banks, and the ultimate developer, William Zeckendorf.44

Fox publicly confirmed its plans on January 7, 1958 with a press conference on the studio lot and a press release folder on the proposed development of Century City, a plan it had been quietly working on for nearly two years. A six-page press release touted Fox’s move to redevelop its 284-acre site as “one of the biggest land developments of all time” motivated by land values that had climbed steadily. Master-planned by the Los Angeles firm of Welton Becket and Associates, 176 acres of the studio’s 284-acre production lot “will be redeveloped in a sweeping change of land use that will include office buildings, a hotel, a shopping center, apartment buildings, parks, restaurants and broad concourses.” The project would also include a

“film industry center” with offices, an exhibit hall, a motion picture museum, a movie theater that seats 500 people, and multipurpose auditorium that will seat 4000 people, “large enough to handle award presentations.”45

Meanwhile, Fox will invest $12 million to $15 million to improve its film production facilities with new sound stages and offices on the remaining 80 acres of the studio site. Some sets and backlot shooting would move to the 2300-acre studio ranch near Malibu. In 1958, the studio expected to spend $65 million on film production, a $15 million increase over the previous year. With the total value of the Century City project estimated at $400 million, the first

44 Inter-Office Correspondence from Edmond E. Herrscher to Spyros Skouras, 28 Oct. 1957, Box 44, Folder 6, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 45 Welton Becket and Associates and 20th Century-Fox Film Corp., Press Release Wednesday, January 8, 1958, Century City Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 17 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION phase of construction was set to begin in July 1958; the first building to rise in Century City would be Welton Becket and Associates new headquarters.

At the press conference, Becket explained the site plan: the northern portion, along Santa

Monica Boulevard, will be occupied by office towers 20 to 30 stories tall and a 1000-room hotel.

Behind these buildings will be the shopping center with markets, shops, and a major department store surrounded by a huge double-deck parking lot. The southern portion of the site, near Pico

Boulevard, will contain 18 apartment buildings of varying heights with parks, play areas, and swimming pools. The central artery of the development, traversing between Santa Monica and

Pico Boulevards, will be the Champs Elysees modeled on the famed Parisian boulevard.46

Studio officials, estimating the property alone valued at $80 million to $100 million, announced the studio intended to retain title to the site but would likely release some of the property for outside development on a lease arrangement. At the time of the announcement, financing had not been finalized, but insurance representative Fred Gebers said it was possible as many as 20 insurance companies may invest in the development.47

In preparation for the development, Edmond Herrscher analyzed the current zoning of the property and its necessary adjustments in March 1958. The bulk of the property, or 233.33 acres, was zoned M-1-0 at the time, which permitted heavy industrial activity. Herrscher’s main concern was 17 acres, buffering the eastern boundary of the studio and the Beverly Hills city border, zoned R-1-0, permitting only single-family residences. Welton Becket planned to build his headquarters on four of those acres, at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Moreno

46 Welton Becket and Associates and 20th Century-Fox Film Corp., Press Release Wednesday, January 8, 1958, Century City Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “$400,000,000 City to Rise on Film Studio Lot,” Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 1958, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 47 “$400,000,000 City to Rise on Film Studio Lot,” Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 1958, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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Drive, which would require commercial zoning. Herrscher recommended Fox agree to Becket’s offer to lease the land for fifty years, reverting to Fox afterwards, in exchange for an average yearly income of $36,500 for the $2 million building paid for by Becket that would catapult the

Century City development into reality. Additionally, the remaining 13 acres would require rezoning in order to fetch more value by the square foot. Another 9.25 acres of the property, along Santa Monica Boulevard between the auto gate and the northeastern boundary opposite the

Beverly Hilton Hotel, was zoned C-2-0. This commercial zoning did not interfere with Fox’s plans. At the time, Herrscher was working on a master plan for the rezoning of the property since the plan was to reduce the M-1-0 zoning to the appropriate commercial and residential designations for the Century City development, but to do so in a way that would not interfere with film production on the property in the interim between zoning and building.48 Fox pursued some of the rezoning agenda soon after. Both the rezoning of the property for Becket’s headquarters and the remaining land zoned for single-family residences along the eastern boundary of the studio were rezoned for commercial purposes in 1959.49

The Wall Street Journal reported, following a Board of Directors meeting, in April 1958, that “no definite plans have as yet been formulated” to build Century City, according to

Skouras.50 Skouras’s speech to stockholders in May 1958 relayed the Board’s decision to “await the receipt of ten or twelve bona fide proposals from prospective lessees or buyers, before

48 Letter from Edmond E. Herrscher to Spyros P. Skouras dated 18 March 1958, Box 44, Folder 7, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.; Telegram from Buddy Addler to Spryos Skouras undated (circa 19 May 1958), Box 44, Folder 5, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 49 Los Angeles City Council File 93695, Box A-1551, Los Angeles City Archives; Los Angeles City Council File 91600, Box A-1545, Los Angeles City Archives. 50 Qtd. in “Twentieth Century-Fox Has No Definite Plan Yet for Movie Lot City,” Wall Street Journal, 30 April 1958, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 19 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION adopting a final policy for this development.”51 With this announcement, Herrscher warned

Skouras that “Century City is in danger of becoming a ghost town before it is even begun.”

Herrscher advised, “To breathe new life into the project, we must undo what has been done by demonstrating in a tangible way that Century City is a reality. The best way to do this is to commence building, and the best impact that can be made in this direction is to have the master planner himself start the project.” Herrscher added urgency to the message by declaring the next three years of development and building at Century City depend on building as soon as possible.52 Soon after, Fox approved the project and Becket’s headquarters, which he originally planned to build in the mid-Wilshire district on land he had purchased across from the

Ambassador Hotel.53

Herrscher and Skouras’s exchange over the Becket building and when to commence construction on Century City calls into question how firm Fox’s plans were at the time they were promoted in the Century City announcement and press release. At the time, Becket’s building was touted as ready to break ground in six months, but with that proposed groundbreaking date on the horizon Herrscher had to convince Skouras to allow the project to progress or risk burying the project before it began. Similarly, Fox proclaimed that it was not selling the bulk of the land and its in-house analysis only months before the announcement did not include a sale-leaseback scenario despite its recent recommendation by an outside realtor. However, by the end of 1958, it was clear Fox was desperate to sell the land and lease-back its studio. This suggests that Fox

51 Spyros P. Skouras, Twentieth Century Fox Stockholder Meeting Speech, 20 May 1958, Box 81, Folder 3, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 52 Letter from Edmond Herrscher to Spyros Skouras dated 14 May 1958, Box 44, Folder 7, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 53 Letter from Edmond Herrscher to Spyros Skouras dated 9 Dec. 1957, Box 44, Folder 6, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 20 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION likely underestimated the complexity and expertise involved in such an undertaking as creating

Century City. Fox was in the business of making and selling movies, not real estate.

PROTECTING THE “CENTURY CITY” NAME

In 1958, following the press attention the proposed Century City development received,

Herrscher sought the assistance of a Fox lawyer, Frank Ferguson, with protecting the name

“Century City.” Herrscher wanted to protect the name “Century City” for use in film, radio, television, and other venues because he believed the name “will become as important as Radio

City or Rockefeller Center.”54 Ferguson counseled Herrscher that a place name, unlike a product name or label, cannot be trademarked, nor can it be protected by copyright. The best course of action in protecting the name is through usage, which had already commenced. Meanwhile,

Ferguson registered Century City as a motion picture title with the Motion Picture Association as a precaution.55 Ferguson consulted a patent and trademark attorney on the matter, who recommended the use of Century City in a corporate name registered with the state, to place the name in the telephone book as soon as possible, and to publicize the name so that people will identify it with the development.56 Moving forward with this advice, they created a dummy corporation called Century City Inc.57 In 1959, the name of the dummy corporation was changed to City of the Stars Inc. following Century City’s developer William Zeckendorf’s request to

54 Inter-Office Correspondence from Edmond E. Herrscher to Frank Ferguson dated 17 Jan. 1958, “City of Stars Incorporated,” Box 729, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 55 Inter-Office Correspondence from Frank H. Ferguson to Edmond Herrscher dated 24 Jan. 1958, “City of Stars Incorporated,” Box 729, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 56 Letter from Leonard S. Lyon to Frank H. Ferguson dated 12 Feb. 1958, “City of Stars Incorporated,” Box 729, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 57 Letter from Edmond Herrscher to Otto E. Koegel dated 18 March 1958, “City of Stars Incorporated,” Box 729, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections; Letter from David P. Evans to Frank Ferguson dated 16 April 1958, “City of Stars Incorporated,” Box 729, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 21 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION utilize the name in a corporation he formed for the purpose.58 Eventually, after years of inactivity, the dummy corporation was dissolved in October 1967.59

SELLING THE LAND

According to New York-based real estate developer and principal of Webb & Knapp,

William Zeckendorf, in late 1958, Skouras invited him to lunch to discuss purchasing Fox’s land and shepherding the development of Century City.60 Zeckendorf had developed international projects of large scales, including assembling the parcel for the United Nations Headquarters in

New York and launched the career of prolific modern architect I.M. Pei. Zeckendorf and Skouras met four years earlier when they organized a syndicate to buy Howard Hughes’s empire, which

Hughes had hinted to his friend Skouras he might be interested in divesting. Hughes declined, but Zeckendorf and Skouras, in Skouras’s words following the collapse of the deal, “formed an association and a friendship that will be maintained for the remainder of our lives.”61 The correspondence between the two indicates this was an accurate prophecy.

At the New York City lunch, Zeckendorf told Skouras that he knew Fox had shopped

Century City around to every developer in the country and none would touch it for the following reasons: the asking price of $100 million (with oil rights) was too high, the terms were not favorable, and the project was too ambitious and over-planned from a developer’s perspective.

Regardless, Zeckendorf agreed to take a look at it. Only a few days later, he flew to Los Angeles

58 Letter from Frank H. Ferguson to Norman Steinberg dated 26 May 1959, “City of Stars Incorporated,” Box 729, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections; Letter from Frank H. Ferguson to Norman Steinberg dated 2 June 1959, “City of Stars Incorporated,” Box 729, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 59 Letter from David P. Evans to Frank H. Ferguson dated 6 Nov. 1967, “City of Stars Incorporated,” Box 729, Fox Legal Records (Collection 95), UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. 60 William Zeckendorf with Edward McCreary, The Autobiography of William Zeckendorf (New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970): 245. 61 Zeckendorf, 155-162; Letter from Spyros Skouras to William Zeckendorf dated 6 Nov. 1954, Box 53, Folder 8, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 22 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION to look at the property.62 During his visit, Zeckendorf concluded, “The more I looked around, the more I liked the concept; its very size attracted me. Given space and strategic location in an urban area, you can create and extend your own environment.”63 However, he still had reservations about the project, mainly that it was too big and the asking price too high, even when lowered to $60 million without the oil rights. Zeckendorf was concerned that it would cost millions of dollars just to demolish the studio buildings, but once Skouras informed him that Fox intended to retain 75 acres with studio operations Zeckendorf lessened his reservations.64

After some negotiating, Zeckendorf and Skouras verbally agreed to Webb & Knapp’s purchase of the property without oil rights for $56 million with Fox to pay an annual rent of $1.5 million for its studio operations. Zeckendorf, early on, recognized the potential in the deal and that Webb & Knapp would only have to raise $31 million. The contract for $1.5 million in rent, he figured, at six percent interest would be worth $25 million to an insurance company.

However, the $31 million was a large capital investment from a firm that was spread thin across the country and would eventually collapse under these obligations. Consequently, Zeckendorf arranged for Webb & Knapp to acquire the land in parcels and pay over time rather than in one lump sum. Zeckendorf intended to then sell off portions of the property to different interests, modeled on a technique he previously pioneered for selling fractional parts of and rights in a building, which he named the Hawaiian Technique.65

To celebrate the sealing of the deal, Skouras put on a bit of a show at the studio. With current and past stars in attendance, both Skouras and Zeckendorf gave brief speeches before signing the agreement. As part of the spectacle, Fox built a reproduction of the Zeckendorf Store

62 Zeckendorf, 245-246. 63 Zeckendorf, 246. 64 Zeckendorf, 246-247. 65 Zeckendorf, 247.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 23 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION founded in 1868 in Tucson, Arizona, as a photo opportunity for Zeckendorf and his son.

Zeckendorf’s grandfather, also William, immigrated from Germany and made his way west as a merchant, ultimately establishing the store. Zeckendorf opens his autobiography by describing the New York Zeckendorfs as “misplaced Westerners.” Throughout his story, Zeckendorf effectively casts himself as an urban real estate pioneer, following his grandfather’s shrewd footsteps. The metaphor is not lost in the Century City deal, where Zeckendorf romanticizes it as a western hunting ground before its life as a backlot.66

With the agreement in place, Zeckendorf organized the financing. Webb & Knapp provided the initial $2.5 million down payment in April 1959. To cover the expense, Webb &

Knapp brought in the Lazard Freres investment firm with a “put” for the $2.5 million borrowed against other property held by Webb & Knapp. The put meant that Lazard Freres could cancel the deal and demand its $2.5 million back at any time.67

On May 25, 1959, Fox held a ground-breaking celebration for Welton Becket’s headquarters, the first building to be erected as part of Century City, attended by studio officials as well as Los Angeles Mayor Norris Poulson and other city officials. By now, Zeckendorf formed Century City Development Corporation and installed Hernando Courtright, former owner and president of the Beverly Hills Hotel and a vice president of Bank of America, as president.

Zeckendorf announced that he expected all construction to be completed within five years, while one newspaper account of the events reported that Skouras announced that he expected all studio operations to be moved to the ranch near Malibu within five years.68

66 Zeckendorf, 15, 246-248. 67 Zeckendorf, 248. 68 “Century City To Erect 11,000 Apt. Units On 20th Lot Acreage,” Hollywood Reporter, 26 May 1959, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Richard Gehman, “The Big Operator,” The American Weekly, 31 July 1960, William Zeckendorf Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences;

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 24 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION

As perhaps to be expected with a land development of this magnitude, the course did not follow exactly as laid out at the ground-breaking ceremony. Indeed, Webb & Knapp had been struggling since the beginning to secure financing for the project. Although other developers expressed interest in joining the venture, nothing materialized well into 1960. A second cash payment of $3.8 million to close the deal was twice postponed by the time Lazard Freres, nervous about losing the down payment, recalled its $2.5 million. At the time, Zeckendorf was committed to building the Zeckendorf Hotel in Manhattan, which demanded all of Webb &

Knapp’s cash on hand. Zeckendorf had to decide between building his hotel and the investment in Century City. He chose the hotel, citing that his involvement with Century City had already brought the “project from the realm of fantasy to the world of the probable.” Subsequently,

Zeckendorf negotiated, over many sessions in New York and Los Angeles, with Skouras and his team at Fox to make it an all-cash deal for $43 million, which was the current value of the land given the previous amortized arrangement. Next, Zeckendorf sold the contract to buy the property with the newly agreed terms to the Kratter Corporation of New York in May 1960.

Marvin Kratter had previously offered to purchase Fox’s land, exclusive of oil rights and 80 acres for the studio, in December 1957 for $50 million. With Kratter poised to profit from the fractioning of the land, Webb & Knapp pocketed $4.5 million and 25 acres of Century City for its trouble.69

Kratter had difficulty securing financing. He approached Skouras about exchanging

Kratter’s stock for the property, which Skouras considered since it would not be subject to the

26% capital gains tax if Fox could sell the stock six months later with guarantee that the deal

“Century City Hailed as L.A. ‘Oasis,’” Hollywood Citizen-News, 25 May 1959, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1954-1959) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 69 Zeckendorf, 248-249, 254; Letter from Edmond E. Herrscher to Spyros P. Skouras dated 8 July 1958, Box 44, Folder 8, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 25 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION would be consummated.70 In June 1960, Kratter pulled out of the deal, “afraid of taking on such a great commitment,” in Zeckendorf’s estimation. Kratter blamed the dissolution of the deal on

Webb & Knapp not agreeing with the terms of a sale of a portion of the property to Webb &

Knapp. Zeckendorf was in a difficult spot. Lazard Freres required its money by August 1960 and the $3.8 million was due to Fox. If Zeckendorf did not find another investor, Webb & Knapp would lose the land and the $2.5 million down payment.71

Remembering a recent conversation with Frank Magee, president of the Aluminum

Company of America (Alcoa), about how the firm should get into the real estate game,

Zeckendorf decided to try his luck with an impromptu pitch to Alcoa in Pittsburgh. Zeckendorf arrived at 10:30 a.m. to Magee’s office filled with top officers. Zeckendorf displayed the map, described the potential at Century City, and explained that the $43 million price need only cost

$18 million should Alcoa choose to sell the lease for the Fox studio portion of the site. He then explained that with another $8 million or $10 million expense in infrastructure such as roads, utilities, and sewers, there would be six million square feet of development at a cost of $4 per square foot. Zeckendorf suggested that it might be eventually worth $50-54 per square foot.

Needing an immediate answer, Zeckendorf left the Alcoa men to decide if the company would buy in while he went to lunch at Westinghouse. Returning at 2:30 p.m., Zeckendorf headed to

Magee’s office where they were waiting for him. Magee gave a speech about how Alcoa had never deviated from the aluminum business before. Even though they did not understand the notion of entering real estate, Magee informed, the Alcoa men had decided to take the deal at

Century City. Zeckendorf proposed that Alcoa put up two-thirds of the investment at Century

70 Letter from Spyros Skouras to Darryl F. Zanuck undated (in response to letter of 11 July 1960), Box 44, Folder 5, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 71 Zeckendorf, 249; Kratter Corporation, undated press release circa June 1960, Box 44, Folder 9, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 26 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION

City and Webb & Knapp would contribute the other third but the profit sharing would be reversed. Magee agreed and gave Zeckendorf a check for $2.5 million to cover Lazard Freres before he left.72

Business historian George David Smith devotes few pages to Aloca’s introduction to real estate, or its real estate dealings more generally, in his history of the corporation, but yet offers some insight into the significance of the transaction. Smith describes Alcoa’s partnership with

Zeckendorf in Century City and entrance in real estate development as inadvertent, but reports that afterwards Alcoa pursued real estate deliberately. By the close of 1962, Alcoa was involved in seven major urban developments in Indianapolis, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and

New York, mostly in joint ventures organized by Zeckendorf. Ten years later, Aloca reported a

$68 million equity investment in real estate operations that generated $38.6 million, or 38% of the company’s total net income. Smith argues there was “no particularly strong strategic rationale for an aluminum producer to diversify into real estate,” but the “initial justification” was that direct development might further the demonstration of aluminum for large-scale applications. Projects under this rubric included aluminum windows in Kratter Corporation’s tower housing on the former Ebbets Field and the aluminum curtain walls of the World Trade

Center towers. However, Smith points out that moving forward in real estate developments, showcasing aluminum was less a priority, instead allowing architects to select the materials and aesthetics. Instead, government policies, including seed money for urban redevelopment and accelerated depreciation tax incentives, guided increased enthusiasm for developing real estate.73

The Los Angeles Times reported that in August 1960, Alcoa bought a substantial share in the Century City development in order to guarantee financing. The paper stated Alcoa’s reason

72 Zeckendorf, 249-253; Zeckendorf erroneously names Frank Magee as “Frank McGee.” 73 George David Smith, From Monopoly to Competition: The Transformations of Alcoa, 1888-1986 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 338-339.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 27 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION for entering the project team was to secure an opportunity for development of new structural uses of aluminum. As Webb & Knapp and Alcoa announced their partnership in New York, Welton

Becket and Associates moved into its new $4 million headquarters in Century City, the first completed building in the development.74

Fox shareholders approved the new sale of the studio property, from its wholly-owned subsidiary Fox Realty Corporation of California to Webb & Knapp and Alcoa’s joint subsidiary

91091 Corporation, on October 17, 1960. Skouras urged stockholders to approve the deal, declaring it the best obtainable for the management and the stockholders. The sale of the studio’s more than 280-acre studio for $43 million in cash, rather than a parcel-by-parcel deal that would have grossed just over $56 million, also included a more attractive lease-back provision. For an annual rent of $1.5 million Fox would retain its 76-acre studio for 99 years. After five years, Fox gained great flexibility with the lease; it could sell the lease or redevelop the property however it wished. Skouras informed stockholders that money from the sale of the land would be used by the company to buy back some of its stock on a tender basis and the rest would be applied to the reduction of the firm’s debt. When challenged by stockholders over the reduced price, Skouras informed that the corporation was in no position to develop Century City on its own. There had been five unsuccessful attempts to dispose of the property. Meanwhile, the deal would also provide a $9 million capital gains advantage.75

Webb & Knapp and Alcoa completed the land purchase on April 16, 1961, with payment of $38 million. Equitable Assurance Society of the United States and Mellon National Bank also

74 “Alcoa Buys Big Share in Century City,” Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 1960, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1960-1963) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Exit Zeckendorf,” Newsweek, 30 May 1960, p. 70, Century City Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 75 Louis Pelegrine, “New Deal For Fox Lot Okayed,” The Film Daily, 18 Oct. 1960, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1960-1963) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 28 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION contributed to the financing.76 It was no coincidence that Mellon provided funding for the development, as Mellon was a large stockholder in Alcoa. Zeckendorf noted in his biography that General Richard Mellon had told him years later, as shipmates returning from abroad, that the purchase of Century City was one of the greatest and proudest milestones in the company’s history.77

Demolition of the development site, adored with numerous sets, began four months later.

It cost $600,000 to demolish the site. Along with demolition, a tree conservation program was enacted to reserve 850 trees for planting in the new development.78 By June 1962, the first office building since the sale of the land, the $7 million Gateway West, was under construction. At that time, the building permit for its twin, Gateway East, was filed. Both Gateway buildings utilize a new aluminum curtain wall structure recently engineered by Alcoa. Century City contributed

$400,000, nearly $300,000 more than required, for a new sewer to serve Century City and other parts of West Los Angeles.79

In July 1963, Gateway West opened, and Gateway East followed a year later. Also in

1964, the 15-acre Century Square regional shopping mall opened as did the individually-owned buildings for the Automobile Club of Southern California, headquarters for the National Cash

Register Company, and headquarters for the Pacific Telephone Company. In 1965, the twin

Century Towers apartment buildings, each 27 stories tall, opened. By April 1966, Century City had reached about the half-way point of its development. The $30 million uniquely curved, 20-

76 “20th Gets Final $38 Million Payment For Studio Acreage,” Daily Variety, 17 April 1961, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1960-1963) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 77 Zeckendorf, 253. 78 “Set Razing at Fox Studio to Begin Today,” Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 1961, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1960-1963) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 79 Tom Cameron, “Century City: ‘Frontier’ Movie Towns Supplanted by Huge $500 Million Development,” Los Angeles Times, 10 June 1962, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1960-1963) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Los Angeles City Council File 95279, Box A- 1568, Los Angeles City Archives.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 29 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION story Century Plaza Hotel was set to open on June 1. In September, four 20-story apartment buildings, known as Century Park Apartments, would open for occupation. Reports indicated that half of Los Angeles’s new luxury apartment leases were signed in Century City, at the time, where rents commanded up to $1200 per month. At the time, Century City was expected to ultimately contain 5000 apartment units in 20 buildings, housing 12,000 people, and 4 million square feet of office space in 28 buildings, with a daytime population of 20,000 people.80

After the sell off of the land, Fox was busier than ever. The studio expanded its facilities as planned, maximized production space at the Hollywood studio, and rented an entire production lot in Culver City in order to keep pace.81

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR FOX’S STUDIO

In 1963, Fox, along with MGM and Columbia Pictures, proposed the creation of Tri-

Studio. Tri-Studio would have consolidated the studio facilities of the three companies at a new studio plant near Malibu. Although the three would share studio facilities and open them to independent producers, the film companies would remain competitors. In a letter to Attorney

General Robert F. Kennedy, Washington lawyer William P. Rogers provided information and rational for the venture in order to seek Kennedy’s approval that it did not violate antitrust laws to combine operations. Rogers argued that the companies’ current studio facilities, at 25 to 40 years old and in need of cost-prohibitive modernization, were ill-equipped to compete with the

80 Ray Herbert, “Century City Makes Magic Where Film Studio Used to Spin Fantasy,” Los Angeles Times, 18 April 1966, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1966-1967) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Gladwin Hill, “Century City—New Stop on the Tourist Map,” New York Times, 26 June 1966, Century City Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 81 “20th Adding 3 Sound Stages,” Hollywood Reporter, 4 May 1965, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1964-1965) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “20th Expands Western Ave. Lot Filming,” Daily Variety, 11 Nov. 1964, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1964-1965) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “‘Gold Shovel’ Award Goes to 20th-Fox,” Citizen-News, 10 July 1968, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1968-1969) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 30 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION modern production facilities recently constructed in Europe. Rather than build three new studios or modernize their existing plants, the trio would rather pool their resources to build one cost- effective state-of-art facility, which would top anything one studio acting alone could afford at a cost of $40 to $60 million plus new equipment. Rogers argued that the new facility was

“absolutely essential to the continued ability of the three companies to contribute to a healthy domestic film industry.” Citing the rise of television, increasing foreign film competition, changing consumer habits, and rising production costs as threats to an economically feasible

American film industry, Rogers assured the new joint facility was necessary. Rogers promised the new joint studio would not adversely affect competition within the film industry but that it would enabled increased production of films to meet the needs of exhibitors, reduce incentives for runaway production in foreign countries, provide stabilized employment in the industry, and increase the American film industry’s already substantial contribution to the balance of international payments.82

Daily Variety reported the Tri-Studio project announcement was received with great enthusiasm by the film industry, unions, and financiers.83 Following the news, all three studios’ stocks rose, anticipating greater profits, by cutting costs, to come from the joint venture. Variety speculated on the benefits, which could include increased production due to economies of scale, continuity in employment, and greater dividends for stockholders. The Variety reporter, Thomas

M. Pryor, congratulated the proposed project for its movement toward integrating badly needed and long-neglected technological innovations in running a film production studio. Pryor concluded with an upbeat assessment, “this contemplated venture is another indication that

82 Letter from William P. Rogers to Robert F. Kennedy, n.d. circa 1964, Box 16, Folder 6, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 83 “Pix Exex, Unions, Financier Hail Tri-Studio Plan,” Daily Variety, 8 May 1963, 1, 8.

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Hollywood has not lost its thinking cap and, hopefully, will have the courage to translate the idea into action.” Meanwhile, detractors quickly wrote it off as a “pipe dream.”84

Within months of the announcement of the Tri-Studio, the project gained momentum.

Soon after its unveiling, Daily Variety reported that at least one national insurance company was interested in providing long-term financing for the project that would take two years to build once authorized.85 In June 1963, the companies asked Paramount to join the project, but at the time Paramount was also considering merging with Universal.86 Paramount ultimately did not sign on for the studio project. March of the following year, studio executives touted “substantial progress” on the venture, but complained of numerous and multiplying hurdles ahead of a final decision on whether to proceed with the studio five months later.87 Daily Variety reported the project retired when Fox announced, in April 1965, $3 million for construction of three new sound stages at the West Los Angeles studio.88

With the Tri-Studio project stalled, in August 1964, Fred Metzler drafted a letter to Fox’s management outlining a plan for the future of Fox. Metzler recommended that Fox build a new studio along the lines of the Tri-Studio plan on its own. In planning such a project, Fox should commission the Stanford Research Institute, who had conducted studies of its land-use plans in the past, to assess its potential. For the new studio, he recommended purchasing around one thousand acres in a location that would be more suitable than the Century Ranch near Malibu.

While Metzler did not reveal the specific location of this land, he had already identified a

84 Thomas M. Pryor, “New Production Center Plan A Step Toward Automation?” Daily Variety, 8 May 1963, 1, 8. 85 “Insurance Co. May Ante Coin For Tri-Studio,” Daily Variety, 15 May 1963, 4. 86 “Tri-Studio Opens Door to Par; Malibu Offer Being Mulled,” Daily Variety, 5 June 1963, 1, 4. 87 “Report Progress On Tri-Studio,” Daily Variety, 4 March 1964, 1; “Still Exploring Tri-Studio Idea, Says Bob O’Brien,” Daily Variety, 19 Aug. 1964, 2; Vincent Canby, “Final Decision on Tri-Studio Now Looming,” Daily Variety, 26 Aug. 1964, 1, 11. 88 “20th’s New Stages Put Tri-Studio Idea In Deep Freeze,” Daily Variety, 21 April 1965, 1, 10.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 32 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION suitable location originally intended for the Tri-Studio, in a growing area projected to be a future employment center, served by infrastructure and posed no great topographical obstacles.89

In conjunction with buying the land and building a new studio, Metzler recommended that Fox negotiate the trade of the Century Ranch as part of the payment for the new land, which had been agreed to as part of the Tri-Studio project. Additionally, he suggested Fox sell other assets, including the Western Avenue Studio, the West Los Angeles Studio lease to Alcoa (or develop the land commercially when the lease allows), the 2.5 acre site in Century City that

Welton Becket has leased for fifty years for his office headquarters, and the three oil drill sites

Fox will sell to Alcoa when production stops (but retain the oil rights). Metzler reported that estimates indicated that the cost of acquiring land and building a new studio would result in less fixed charges than the current expenditures associated with rental of the land for the main studio and the running of the Western Avenue studio. The new facility, under Fox’s complete control, would provide greater space for outdoor sets as well as financial advantages with inclusion of provisions for independent productions and the potential to commercially develop excess land.90

Metzler’s plan indicates that Fox learned from its experience with Century City. Having gained some real estate savvy, he urged Fox to undertake a dual land-use strategy with future development: motion picture production and non-film commercial development. Metzler reminded the executives to consider the appreciation of the land and to separate the land costs for production and commercial purposes.91

89 Letter from Fred L. Metzler to Seymour Poe, dated 12 Aug. 1964, Box 16, Folder 6, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 90 Letter from Fred L. Metzler to Seymour Poe, dated 12 Aug. 1964, Box 16, Folder 6, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 91 Letter from Fred L. Metzler to Seymour Poe, dated 12 Aug. 1964, Box 16, Folder 6, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

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The chief concern about the future of the studio was the burden of the high fixed costs associated with running the studio itself. This made the overhead for each production budget too high to net much profit, if any. While I have found no evidence in internal Fox communications about this problem with the push to liquidate its real estate for Century City, the discussion is prominent in the years after the fate of Century City is sealed. For example, internal Fox memos in February and March 1963 discuss the high overhead fees, the limited production schedule, and the lack of a backlot conspiring to force unprofitability and the eventual disposal of the West Los

Angeles studio property, which a weak real estate market made untenable at the time.92

Once long-time production chief who succeed Skouras as President of Twentieth Century

Fox in 1962, Darryl F. Zanuck wrote in an internal memo of his disapproval of investing in the studio without a backlot where the overhead was at least $10 million annually and unprofitable with a ten-picture-a-year schedule. Further, he rejected proposals to rent a backlot elsewhere, because transportation costs, already too high when shooting at the Hollywood studio or at the ranch near Malibu, would drag the studio even further into the red. At the time, Zanuck was exploring options to sell the lease—doubting Fox could fetch more than $8 to $10 million for it in the present market—and move all operations to a “practical Studio,” such as Universal.

Zanuck exclaimed, “A Studio without a backlot is like a ten story office building without elevators. It is not practical. Dick [Zanuck’s son, Richard, then production chief] and Stan Hough have drawn elaborate plans to construct an artificial backlot on our Studio, but even this will represent another large capital investment in a property that we all know we are going to

92 Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck to Donald Henderson dated 6 Feb. 1963, Box 44, Folder 5, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.; Memo from Spyros P. Skouras to Darryl F. Zanuck dated 5 March 1963, Box 44, Folder 5, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.; Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck to Spryos Skouras dated 8 March 1963, Box 44, Folder 5, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 34 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION eventually dispose of. This is the basic problem that I have been struggling with since the day I became President. We pay rent amounting to $2,300,000 a year, and we have a Studio which we are forced to leave whenever we want to make any sort of an exterior scene.”93 (I am unsure of where the $2.3 million figure comes from since the contract for the sale was supposed to set rent at $1.5 million.)

In response, Skouras wrote that he did not think Fox could sell the studio lease for a fair price, but prospects might improve in a year. In the meantime, he, too, was concerned with the overhead problem and suggested Fox organize a subsidiary, which would own the studio lease as well as collect interest payments from the parent company on the amount of money it received from the sale of the property.94 Zanuck responded by informing Skouras he had several specific plans in mind that he would present to the Board of Directors within the month. He continued,

“In the meantime, we have no alternative but to struggle on and take a beating. In addition to my new plan I want to press forward on the idea of having the parent company absorb the lease rental until we can find the correct moment to dispose of the studio.”95

In May 1963, Zanuck drafted a memo that equated the studio with cancer due to the high overhead associated with its operations. Zanuck proposed to follow the Goldwyn Studio, MGM, and Columbia by transforming Fox into a rental lot. He suggested selling or leasing the studio to the Fox Realty Company or a third party, who would then operate it as a rental studio. Such an arrangement would lower overhead for productions by removing the sunk cost of studio operations from their budgets while turning a profit from the owner via studio facility rentals.

93 Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck to Donald Henderson dated 6 Feb. 1963, Box 44, Folder 5, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 94 Memo from Spyros P. Skouras to Darryl F. Zanuck dated 5 March 1963, Box 44, Folder 5, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 95 Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck to Spryos Skouras dated 8 March 1963, Box 44, Folder 5, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

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Zanuck declared that Fox films would receive priority over independent productions for the studio space, but this plan would open the Fox lot to outside production companies.96

Apparently, Zanuck’s plan was not implemented until 1971 under new management.

Daily Variety reported in October 1971 that the Fox studio was “now totally a rental lot.” The split in creative production planning and studio facilities came under the direction of new president and chief operation officer Gordon Stulberg, who hired Bernard Barron, formerly under him at Columbia, as vice president for studio operations. The report informs that the concept of breaking up the studio into functionally separate units, called profit centers, had been in the works for months as part of the long-range plans of chairman and chief executive Dennis

C. Stanfill. There is no mention of Zanuck’s earlier intentions. Variety explains that studio operation supervision by executives not responsible for film and television productions is a concept that had spread throughout the industry over the past few years.97

The following year, Stanfill further encouraged rental facilities campaigning for the City of Los Angeles and/or the County of Los Angeles to fund a film production complex that would allow large and small tenants to rent space, freeing up studio land that has become too valuable for film production purposes. Stanfill clearly stated that he did not intend for Fox’s studio land to be used for this purpose because he deemed it far too valuable.98 Stanfill’s positioning of studio

96 Darryl F. Zanuck, Memo dated 24 May 1963, Box 16, Folder 7, Spyros P. Skouras Papers, M0509, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 97 “20th Studio Now Totally A Rental Lot,” Daily Variety, 6 Oct. 1971, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1971) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 98 A.D. Murphy, “Stanfill Tells of 20th Expansion Plans As He Pushes for City-Funded Studio,” Daily Variety, 19 Jan. 1972, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1972) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Al Delugach, “Firms Could Rent Municipal Studio,” Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 1972, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1972) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Filmmaker Subsidy,” Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 1972, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1972) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 36 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION land as too valuable for production coincided with his plans to redevelop the remaining West Los

Angeles studio plant.

REDEVELOPING FOX’S STUDIO SITE?

Although the studio had recently operated over capacity and while some of master- planned Century City still lay undeveloped, Fox formulated plans to convert its studio facilities into another phase of commercial and residential development. In 1970, Fox hired a real estate consultant, Lewis N. Wolff, to oversee its vast land holdings, and the following year, created subsidiary Twentieth Century-Fox Realty and Development Company and installed Wolff as president.99 Under Wolff’s leadership, in March 1971, Fox announced the development of a $25 million medical complex on nine acres of studio land fronting along Avenue of the Stars.100

These actions along with an announcement in October 1971 that Gruen Associates had been hired to conduct an 18-month comprehensive land-use survey of the West Los Angeles studio indicated that Fox was again seeking to profit from its land as box office revenues waned once again.101 The biggest sign of intent to redevelop came in July 1973 when Fox purchased the 76- acre site it had leased from Alcoa since 1961 for $21 million. In addition to the $21 million for the title to the studio land, Fox paid $18 million over twelve years in rent, at $1.5 million per annum, a total of $39 million. Fox received $43 million for the more than 280 acres it sold,

99 “Wolf To Develop 20th’s Extensive Real Estate,” Daily Variety, 15 April 1970, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1970) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Fox Plans Activity In Building,” Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 24 March 1971, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1971) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 100 “Development Deal With Tishman, Others, For Century City Addition,” Hollywood Reporter, 31 March 1971, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1971) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 101 Fox Westwood Lot Use Studied; Exploring Smaller, Modern Studio And Other Ways of Developing Acreage,” Daily Variety, 19 Oct. 1971, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1971) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Fox Film Corp. Lets Pact for Land Use Place,” Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 1971, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1971) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 37 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION which provided Fox with only $4 million in profit after the land exchange and millions more for

Alcoa. The agreement included an option for Alcoa to buy back 17.5 acres fronting along

Avenue of the Stars. The agreement left Fox with 55 unrestricted acres to redevelop. With the announcement, Wolff reiterated his 12-year development program that would have luxury townhomes and condominiums and commercial space rise on the studio site.102

“The studio is old and inefficient and it is now an anachronism in West Los Angeles. It has a long history, but it’s out of date,” planner Allen M. Rubenstein, Gruen Associates partner, told the Los Angeles Times as he detailed his intent for the redevelopment master plan.103 As the specific plan, a particular type of municipally-approved plan, moved through the planning process it received objections from the City of Beverly Hills and Beverly Hills residents over its presumed traffic congestion and air quality impacts even though the details fell within the parameters set by the West Los Angeles Master Plan. Others criticized its lack of income diversity in the pricing for homes.

Ironically, two years after purchasing the land in West Los Angeles, Fox was concerned that the trickle of new homeowners in the general area would challenge its zoning as a nuisance and force the relocation of the studio. Fifty years later, Fox’s industrial practices were no concern but its plans to develop residential and commercial space and invite more congestion was an unforgivable nuisance.

102 A.D. Murphy, “20th-Fox Buys Back 76 Acres From Alcoa For $21 Million,” Daily Variety, 31 July 1973, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1973) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Fox Will Pay Alcoa $21 Million for Fee Interest in Studio Site,” Hollywood Reporter, 31 July 1973, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1973) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Fox Film Agrees To Repurchase Land It Had Sold to Alcoa,” Wall Street Journal, 31 July 1973, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1973) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 103 Qtd. in Gerald Faris, “Planners Will Lower Curtain on Fox Studio,” Los Angeles Times, 25 Nov. 1973, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1973) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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Over the loud objections of its neighbors, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission approved the plan in October 1974. Throughout the process, the City Planning Director, Calvin

Hamilton, was especially criticized for favoring Fox’s plans, including a short public comment period on the environmental impact report (EIR).104 In December 1974, the Los Angeles City

Council approved the specific plan and rezoning of the property in a compromise between the developer and some neighbors’ concerns. Beverly Hills, however, was not appeased by the compromise, and the following month filed a complaint to halt the plan’s implementation.105 In

October 1976, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled in Fox’s favor, permitting the plans for the 20 acres of commercial and 55 acres of residential development to occur. A Hollywood

Reporter article cited an unnamed Fox official stating that the board had not decided whether to go ahead with the development plan when it is finally freed of all legal tangles.106

The development never came to pass, but at this point, it is unclear to me exactly why not. It may well have been the legal hurdles, but Fox may have also realized that the site was valuable as a production site. The redevelopment of the remaining studio production facilities in

West Los Angeles were usually discussed in tandem with the construction of new facilities elsewhere. Since plans for new facilities never materialized, Fox likely recognized the value in and the necessity to keep the studio. The recently instituted rental structure for the plant,

104 “B.H. Showing Concern Over Fox Property Development,” Los Angeles Times, 20 Jan. 1974, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1974) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Skip Ferderber, “Hamiliton Draws Fire on Fox Studio Complex,” Los Angeles Times, 12 Sept. 1974, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1974) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Ray Ripton, “Alternatives for Fox Property to be Heard,” Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 1974, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1974) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Irv Burleigh, “Expensive Homes on Fox Property Win Planners’ OK,” Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 1974, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1974) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 105 Ray Ripton, “B.H. Moves to Halt Fox Redevelopment,” Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 1975, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1975) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Los Angeles City Council File 74-4757, Box B-545, Los Angeles City Archives. 106 “Court Okays Fox Building Plan,” Hollywood Reporter, 5 Oct. 1976, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1976) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 39 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION providing a mechanism to keep stages from being idle, should have reorganized the financial situation to a profitable state. In January 1979, the Hollywood Reporter said the studio was

“bursting at the seams, and there are several factors behind the burgeoning activity,” chiefly television production.107 The studio was so busy it had to rent offices nearby off-site and do double shifts in the dubbing rooms. They expected the pace to continue for awhile.108

THE FATE OF OTHER FOX PRODUCTION FACILITIES

In 1971, Fox’s real estate consultant, Lewis Wolff, announced another consulting firm was conducting a three-month study of future development alternatives for Fox’s 2,738-acre ranch near Malibu, which had been used as the studio’s backlot since the sale for the Century

City development.109 Ultimately, Fox sold the ranch property to the State of California for a recreational park. The state considered maintaining the land as a historical park about the significance of the film industry, but citing prohibitive costs, instead combined it with land from comedian Bob Hope and then Governor Ronald Reagan to create Malibu Creek State Park.110

At the same time that the studio commissioned land-use studies and contemplated the future of its West Los Angeles plant and ranch north of Malibu, Fox finally relinquished its

107 Frank Barron, “20th-Fox Studios at Capacity, Expect Even Heavier Demands,” Hollywood Reporter, 15 Jan. 1979, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (January – April 1979) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 108 Frank Barron, “20th-Fox Studios at Capacity, Expect Even Heavier Demands,” Hollywood Reporter, 15 Jan. 1979, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (January – April 1979) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 109 “20th Orders Study of Land Use For Its Malibu Ranch,” Daily Variety, 3 Dec. 1971, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1971) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Film Company Orders Century Ranch Study,” Los Angeles Times, 19 Dec. 1971, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1971) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 110 Skip Ferderber, “Century Ranch May Be Site of Movieland Park,” Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 1973, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1973) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “20th-Fox Sells 3,800-Acre Century Ranch to Calif. for Public Park,” Boxoffice, 20 Sept. 1976, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1976) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Josette Germain, “Old Fox Movie Studios Now a Park That Glitters,” Los Angeles Times, 21 May 1978, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1978) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 40 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION production facilities in Hollywood. Although there had been reports in trade papers as early as

1936 of Fox disposing of its Sunset and Western production facility, definitive action did not occur until 1971.111 In May 1971, Fox announced its deal to lease the eight-acre site at the southeast corner of Sunset and Western to Hartfield-Zodys discount department-store chain for

$4.4 million. With the announcement, Fox President Dennis C. Stanfill stated that demolishing the sound stages was consistent with the company’s policy to phase out obsolete studio facilities and maximizing its real estate holdings. A plaque, commemorating the studio site and its role in film and Hollywood history, was intended for the site.112 In 1973, the remainder of the studio site at the southwest corner of Sunset and Western was razed for three more buildings housing an

Alpha Beta Market, Sav-On Drugs, and Carl’s Jr. The land and buildings were subject to a 25- year lease worth $2.5 million. With this development, the only remnant of the former studio was the Deluxe Laboratories.113

THE END OF AN ERA AND THE BEGINNING OF ANOTHER

The 1970s was a transformative decade for Fox. In addition to the dramatic changes in its land use plans, Fox began a project of diversification that previewed the era of film companies as

111 “20th-Fox Checking Out of Sunset Lot,” Daily Variety, 13 Oct. 1936, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1936- 1941) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “20th May Unload Western Ave. Lot to Cut Company’s Operating Expenses,” Daily Variety, 8 July 1953, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1950-1953) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Original Fox Studio Being Sold by 20th,” Weekly Variety, 27 Feb. 1963, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1960-1963) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 112 “20th-Fox Sets Long Term Rental Deal Western Ave. Land,” Hollywood Reporter, 4 May 1971, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1971) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Fox Studio Gone; History At a Discount,” Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 5 May 1971, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1971) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 113 “Agreements Signed For Construction at Former Fox Studios,” Hollywood Reporter, 24 Jan. 1973, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1973) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Old Fox Lot On Sunset To Be Shopping Area,” Daily Variety, 24 Jan. 1973, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1973) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 41 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION subunits of media conglomerates rather than individual corporations. In 1974, Fox invested time and money into two theme-parks: the former Marineland of the Pacific on the Palos Verdes

Peninsula and the creation of the movie-themed park at the Queen Mary docked pier in Long

Beach. Fox also considered managing the Queen Mary as part of these operations. Ultimately, these projects were never seen through.114 In 1977, Fox acquired Coca-Cola Bottling Midwest

Inc., based in St. Paul, through purchase of all of its stock for $27.5 million.115 Later that year,

Fox purchased Aspen Skiing Corporation, a ski resort operator.116 In 1978, Fox expanded its resort holdings with the purchase of Pebble Beach Corporator, operators of a high-end resort near Carmel and the owners of exclusive real estate on the Monterey Peninsula, both along the northern California coast.117 Later that year, Fox bought the Michigan-based Magnetic Video, which duplicated and distributed videocassettes for home VCRs.118 The following year, Fox sold

114 “Twentieth to Invest $3 Million As New Marineland Operator,” Hollywood Reporter, 15 Oct. 1974, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1974) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Irvin Allen, 20th-Fox Partners in Long Beach Sea Park Complex,” Daily Variety, 13 March 1974, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1974) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “20th-Fox Pulls Away From Queen Mary Project,” Hollywood Reporter, 28 Nov. 1975, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1975) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 115 A.D. Murphy, “Fox Planning To Buy Bottling Op For $27.5 Mil,” Daily Variety, 30 June 1977, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (January-June 1977) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Fox Agrees to Buy Midwest Coke Bottler,” Los Angeles Times, 30 June 1977, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (January-June 1977) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 116 “20th Century Detailed Its Plans to Acquire Aspen Skiing Corp.,” Los Angeles Times, 23 Dec. 1977, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (July-December 1977) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Aspen Ski Corp. Fused Into Fox,” Weekly Variety, 15 March 1978, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1978) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 117 “20th Confirms It Will Buy Resort for $71 Mil in Cash,” Daily Variety, 28 Aug. 1978, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1978) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “Pebble Beach Directors Okd a Twentieth Century-Fox Offer,” Los Angeles Times, 2 Sept. 1978, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1978) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 118 “Fo Buys Magnetic Video $7.2-M Cash,” Weekly Variety, 29 Nov. 1978, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1978) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 42 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION its Wedron Silica Co., previously a unit of Pebble Beach, because of the company’s desire to focus on entertainment, broadcasting, and leisure activities.119

Additionally, Fox moved its headquarters from New York City to Los Angeles in

December 1972, following the lead of Warner Bros. and MGM.120 At a time when producing and distributing film no longer was the sole concern of the company, Fox and the film industry at large solidified control in filmmaking’s capital rather than what had been the colonial control of

New York and its reliance on Wall Street.

CONCLUSION

As I expect my other case studies to inform my understanding of Fox and its land use decisions, my analysis and conclusions are still in flux. At this point, my sense is that Fox was struggling with how to operate its studio in the post-studio era that produced an uncertain profit and an uncertain future for filmmaking. Fox may have panicked in his decision to dispose of its property so quickly, but evidence suggests the executives did not have the expertise to develop

Century City. They hired architect and planner Welton Becket rather than a planner-developer, and Edmond Herrscher could not manage a development of this magnitude (to be fair, the largest of his previous properties were shopping malls). Subsequent proposals for land acquisition and development with studios that did not materialize and the disposal of the Hollywood studio at

Sunset and Western showed increased sophistication of real estate development.

After the Century City land exchange—the sale of the 280 acres and then the repurchase of its 75-acre studio—Fox made only a $4 million dollar profit on land it claimed was too

119 “Fox Will Get $33 Million Cash In a Sale of Its Silica Unit,” Los Angeles Times, 29 June 1979, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (January-April 1979) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 120 “Fox Moving West,” Hollywood Reporter, 22 Sept. 1971, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1971) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; “20th-Fox Finalizing N.Y.-To-L.A. Move,” Daily Variety, 29 Dec. 1972, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (1972) Core Collection File, Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 43 DRAFT: PLEASE DO NOT CIRCULATE OR CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION valuable for film production. Certainly, the physical reality of Century City drove up the value of the studio land in the interim years, but Fox’s inability to completely transform its film manufacturing plant into residential and commercial space and the site’s endurance to this day as a film studio indicates that film production was not an inferior use. Where could Fox have cost effectively moved its studio when central Los Angeles County had been fully developed?

Creating Century City Stephanie Frank 44