The Amazing Back Story Of ABC’s Vine Street Theater…1313 Vine Street
The Amazing Back Story Of ABC’s Vine Street Theater…1313 Vine Street
Did you know this was originally the home of The Don Lee – Mutual Network? Or, that this is the first place Johnny Carson ever went on network television?
The building was originally built in 1948 as a radio and television studio facility at a cost of $3 million. The dedication of the Don Lee-Mutual Broadcasting building was held on August 18, 1948. It is the oldest surviving structure in Hollywood that was originally designed specifically with television in mind.
Cadillac dealer Don Lee got into broadcasting to stay competitive with his friend Earle C. Anthony, a Packard dealer, who bought radio station KFI as a method of appealing to his customers. Lee bought KFRC in San Francisco and KHJ in Los Angeles, ultimately building the chain to 12 West Coast stations. Though named for him, Lee, who had died 14 years earlier, never saw this building.
The building was the original home of Los Angeles Channel 2, which is now KCBS-TV, through the 1950s. KCBS-TV is one of the oldest television stations in the world. It was signed on by Don Lee Broadcasting, and was first licensed by the FCC as experimental television station W6XAO in June 1931. The station went on the air on December 23, 1931, and by March 1933 was broadcasting programming one hour each day only on Monday through Saturdays.
During World War II, programming was reduced to three hours, every other Monday. The station’s frequency was switched from Channel 1 to Channel 2 in 1945 when the FCC decided to reserve Channel 1 for low-wattage community television stations. The station was granted a commercial license (the second in California, behind KTLA) as KTSL on May 6, 1948, and was named for Thomas S. Lee, the son of Don Lee.
Don Lee’s broadcasting interests were placed for sale in 1950 following the death of Thomas S. Lee. General Tire and Rubber agreed to purchase all of Don Lee’s stations, but chose to spin-off KTSL and the building at 1313 Vine Street to CBS. On October 28, 1951, KTSL changed its callsign to KNXT to coincide with CBS’ Los Angeles radio outlet, KNX (1070 AM). In April of ’84, it became KCBS.
These are the studios where Johnny Carson’s earliest mid-’50s television appearances, including ‘Carson’s Cellar’ and ‘The Johnny Carson Show’ were done. I had always thought they were from the Columbia Square studios a few blocks away.
ABC bought the building from CBS around 1967, installed GE color cameras and produced shows like ‘The Joey Bishop Show’, ‘The Dating Game’ and ‘The Newlywed Game’ from 1313 Vine Street.
Today, it is the home of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study. It was dedicated in honor of legendary silent film actress Mary Pickford in 2002. Pickford was one of the founding members of the Academy. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
Last weekend, I attended a SAG movie screening in this building, and it was a strange feeling because I had not been inside since the late 1970s. As a teenager studying radio and TV production, I attended many tapings at the ABC Vine Street Theater, including game shows such as Password and Split Second, as well as the sitcom Barney Miller. One thing missing from your history of the building is that before it was acquired by the Academy, it served as the offices of AIDS Project Los Angeles
Worked there as a page 1968 thru 1970. Another show that was taped there was American Bandstand.
We go here all the time for Academy SciTech meetings. It’s a cool place. The apartment on the top floor was for Sinatra, I was told, and still has a great 60s vibe.
The window you can see in the lower left picture (there was one at the other end of the building as well) are now gone. But in the early Don Lee days, they would use them to put Cadillacs on display.
I heard that Frank Sinatra had a top floor office suite there at one time. I was there during the Joey Bishop show when Ali was guest and of course Regis Philbin was side-kick.
Yes, I worked camera on Newlywed Game on occasion and there were other Chuck Barris game shows out of that theater at that time if I’m not mistaken. I remember Chuck playing air drums at his Xmas Party there. Also the old beautiful Ivar Theater a few blocks away where they shot Merv Griffin around that time – Dick Carson, Johnny’s brother directed Merv – Zsa Zsa with her little dogs was a frequent guest – lived close by in Beverly Hills – like visiting friends.
Worked on Barney Miller at 1313 Vine many years ago.
Thanks for the remarkable history lesson.
Whatta beautiful building, coming from an architect’s prospective. Style and grace in buildings back then were the bomb! Now, it’s all stick and stucco illusions that are built for only a 50 year life span.
I worked there in the early to mid 80’s, for ABC On-Air Promotion, which occupied the entire second floor. In 1984, the ground floor became offices for the Summer Olympics and they installed anti-terror posts into the walkway to the entrance. There was a huge piece of original Leroy Neiman Olympic art placed in the lobby. The place reeked of history. I heard Elvis recorded there at one time and that Ernie Kovacs did his TV show out of there. Not sure if all that was true. We did explore the building from time to time and found interesting remnants of the old days in the basement and the luxurious quarters upstairs. Great place.
Is there a floor plan of the building as it existed?
Did it have anything.to do with Mutual Radio?
Your posts are fascinating!
What a remarkable history lesson. Thanks so much.
My department had its offices on the ground floor and mezzanine level for a few years (before relocating back to the ABC Television Center on Prospect Avenue). The outdoor veranda of the top floor’s penthouse apartment suite can be seen in the photographs. The luxurious suite featured wood panelling, green marble fireplace, plus living and kitchen facilities. ABC Spot Sales occupied it for a little while, but for the most part it remained vacant (and we would often go up there to take advantage of the veranda). There were persistent rumors that either Jerry Lewis or Bobby Darin had briefly taken up residence in the apartment, back in the early 1960s.
I had always thought that Barney Miller was taped at the Prospect lot during its entire run, aside from the first pilot which was shot at CBS Studio Center. Then again, ABC must have referred to all their studios in Hollywood as the ABC Television Center.