Hollywood Heritage Museum

08/22/2026

How does Michael Mortilla approach a score for a silent film? He will be playing for THE TRAIL OF '98 (1929) on Sunday, August 23 at 7:30 PM at Silents Under the Stars. The screening is free. Bring a picnic! Come early for a tour of the Gillette Ranch, originally the home of the baron of razor blades and later the home of Clarence Brown, the director of THE TRAIL OF '98.

Clarence Brown reading IDIOT'S DELIGHT (Getty Images)

08/21/2026

Get ready for our August 30 end of summer entertainment related book, media and memorabilia sale! Stop by the museum 11am to 3pm. And if you have books to donate get in touch with us this week to make an appointment to bring them by! Proceeds from the sale will help fund our re-roofing project!

08/21/2026

🎨🧑‍🎨Part II:
(continued from previous post)
Fortune seemed to smile on the Attie Building once more in 2020 when it was to be the cornerstone of a 280,000 square feet mixed use development, which promised to restore both the building and the rapidly fading mural. Unfortunately, the pandemic and subsequent retailing challenges in Hollywood has put these plans on hold and the project site has been sold. Today the Attie Building’s storefronts are shuttered and the YOU ARE A STAR mural is graffitied and deteriorating, causing alarm among its many admirers and visitors to Hollywood.

Recent media attention on the plight of the YOU ARE A STAR mural has further drawn attention to the Attie Building, highlighting how its vacant state has left important artistic and cultural heritage unprotected. It is Hollywood Heritage’s understanding that our community partner, the Hollywood Arts Council, which last restored the YOU ARE THE STAR mural in 2012, is working on this very troubling and sensitive issue. The Hollywood Arts Council has experience with difficult cases such as this. The restoration of a mural, no matter the condition, cannot simply be repainted, but requires the consent and participation of the original artist. The Council has a proven track record having successfully gained the support of Capitol Music Group and worked with the late muralist Richard Wyatt to recreate his 1987 mural, Hollywood Jazz 1945-1972, in ceramic tile on the side of Studio A at the Capitol Records Building. Hollywood Heritage supports the Hollywood Arts Council in its sensitive and important efforts towards the protection of the YOU ARE THE STAR mural and looks forward to its timely restoration. Stay tuned as this story progresses.

08/21/2026

🎶✨🎹What is silent film accompanist Michael Mortilla's plan to play for THE TRAIL OF '98? From romance between Dolores Del Rio and Ralph Forbes to character actors Karl Dane and Tully Marshall, Mortilla will give a full voice to each story.

THE TRAIL OF '98 will screen at Silents Under the Stars at the King Gillette Ranch on Sunday, August 23 at 7:30 PM. The event is free and you are encouraged to come early to picnic and tour the ranch.

Did we mention that the screenings is at the ranch where the film's director Clarence Brown once lived!

08/20/2026

Part I:
The Attie Building is one of Hollywood Heritage's “Hollywood 11,” our campaign to raise awareness about vacant and underused historic buildings in Hollywood’s historic core. We are currently reaching out to new owners and community partners to try to reactivate these vacant storefronts. Meanwhile, the Hollywood Arts Council is once again coming to the rescue for the iconic “You are a Star” mural on the side of the Attie Building.

Straddling the SE corner of Wilcox and Hollywood Boulevard (at 6436), stands one of the district’s most distinctive Art Deco structures. Built in 1931, the Attie Building was the only Los Angeles design of Henry A Minton, a prolific San Francisco based architect. Commissioned to design a two-story commercial structure on a prominent corner, Minton seized the opportunity to make a statement piece out of this modest building. He emphasized a new verticality and modernity with glazed terracotta fluted pilasters from ground to sky, piercing through a short parapet, having deep inset windows and relief panels between.

“Modern” Deco chevrons and geometric Deco imagery of flora and fauna in the panels above and below the windows reinforced this new verticality, tied together at the bottom and above the stores with a linear “speedy” accent band. With three store bays across Hollywood Boulevard and five bays and a single-story extension down Wilcox Avenue, an unassuming retail building became an Art Deco jewel box.

The Attie Building became famous as the site for one of Hollywood’s most emblematic murals YOU ARE THE STAR, the work of artist Thomas Suriya, who in 1983 was asked by Michael Attie (who owned the lingerie store Hollywood Playmates), to paint a mural on the Wilcox side of the building. He painted a darkened theater populated with film legends who "watch" the passersby. The mural was covered extensively by national and international media in the run up to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Two years later in 1985, the Attie Building would be given another distinction when it became a contributing structure to the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment National Register District.

To be continued.

08/18/2026

Silents Under the Stars wraps up on Sunday, August 23 with a 7:30 PM screening of the Dolores Del Rio starrer THE TRAIL OF '98! Randy Haberkamp, founder of Silents Under the Stars gives us an overview here.

✨The film will screen on the property where the director of the film once lived! The Clarence Brown house will be accessible to see (exterior only) at 6:30 PM.

❄️This film will keep you cool on this warm summer evening under the stars! It is all about the Gold Rush and was shot in the frozen environs of Alaska and Colorado.

✨This 1928 silent film has it all! Romance and action!

This event is free. Bring a picnic to eat at sunset. The film will start when the sun goes down!

production by

08/15/2026

Look what landed at the Barn this week! Thank you donors to the roofing fund.

08/13/2026

Cecil B. DeMille, born August 12, 1881 is kind of a big deal around here. He came West to make a name for himself in the movie business and rented a Barn that became known as the Lasky-DeMille barn. That horse barn served as the production office for the first full-length motion picture made in Hollywood. Today that Barn is our Museum - packed with the history of the early film industry in Hollywood and a recreation of DeMille's office.

In 1939 DeMille didn't let a health issue stop him from working on the Western UNION PACIFIC so he had a custom rigged hospital bed made and he directed from that.

08/13/2026

Silents Under the Stars founder Randy Haberkamp and silent film accompanist Michael Mortilla discuss how these outdoor silent film programs at movie ranches began. Silents Under the Stars is a program of Hollywood Heritage. See you on Sunday, August 23 at 7:30 PM for THE TRAIL OF '98 at the King Gillette Ranch to see Michael Mortilla in action!

Silents Under the Stars founder Randy Haberkamp and historian Mike Malone discuss how outdoor silent film programs at movie ranches began. Silents Under the Stars is a program of Hollywood Heritage. For more information about the season, see HollywoodHeritage.org

08/08/2026

The remaining structures on the site of the Hollywood Center Motel came down yesterday. The city declared the site a public nuisance and mandated the owner to clear the debris left from the multiple fires. It’s hard to look at this site without great sadness over the loss of a Hollywood landmark and the adaptive reuse it didn’t live to see. Securing vacant properties is essential for their survival. You can learn more about this property on our Vimeo channel and on previous posts.