ABC Hollywood…1533-44 North Vine Street, A Truly Historic Address

Did you know America’s first network Disc Jockeys broadcast from this building? Or, that this was ABC’s first studio? As we’ll see below, all that and more is true, but let’s start with the building itself.

As you see in the first (big) photo from 1944, this was a bowling alley but not just any bowling alley. When the Hollywood Recreation Center was built in 1940, this was claimed to be the largest and most modern in the nation with 22 lanes and I think it was open 24 hours to accommodate all the people working at NBC and CBS, just down the block. Notice in this photo, on the right, just up from NBC is the Vine Street Brown Derby location and across the street, we see The Tropics Restaurant which was later owned by Tom Breneman.

Breneman was host of the radio show ‘Breakfast In Hollywood’ which aired on the Blue Network owned by NBC and later ABC. The show aired from 1941 to 1948.

By the mid-1940s, Breneman had ten million listeners on ABC. The popularity of the radio program was such that he created his own magazine, and in 1945 he opened his own establishment and broadcast his show live from Tom Breneman’s Restaurant. Initially, his show was in The Tropics Restaurant location, but soon after, he was able to buy the Hollywood Recreation Center and he moved his show into this now giant restaurant.

On April 28, 1948, just before the broadcast of ‘Breakfast In Hollywood’ was to begin Breneman had a heart attack and died. Garry Moore took over hosting duties but the show quickly failed without Breneman.

After the radio program ended Sammy Davis Jr. and a few investors purchased the building. I think they held it for only a year before putting it on the market and by late 1949 or early 1950, ABC’s KECA and the ABC radio network studios were in the building. Before this, the ABC network programs from Hollywood had originated in three auxiliary studios down the street at NBC, which was part of the deal in their purchase of the Blue Network in 1943.

According to our friend Joel Tator, ABC’s radio studios there were initially called studios X, Y and Z, but were later changed to A, B and C. There were not any dedicated television studios in this building, but occasionally, live broadcasts were done with a remote unit from Studio A which was the largest radio studio. B and C were radio only.

Now called The ABC Radio Center, Eddie Cantor and Frank Sinatra both became disc jockey’s at ABC and are believed to be the first network radio DJs. In fairness, listeners to New York’s 1130 WNEW were awaiting developments in the Lindbergh kidnapping trial, radio personality Martin Block built an audience by playing records between the Lindbergh news bulletins. This led to Block’s show, ‘The Make Believe Ballroom’, which began February 3, 1935. There were other local stations using DJs, but Sinatra and Cantor are thought to be the first to do it on a network.

I don’t know when ABC left here, but before I go to what happened next in this building, I want to say that I think when ABC took over this building, it was the first time the radio network had offices of it’s own. I think ABC was still sharing the NBC facilities in NCY, Chicago and WDC till a year or so after this.

Jumping ahead, after ABC left 1533 Vine Street, Trans American Video (TAV) took over the building sometime around 1974 I think. This is where ‘The Merv Griffin Show’ came from. Today, only the facade remains and the interior is condos and retail space. More detail on the photos so please click through them. Thanks to all that helped with the gathering of this info, including David Schwartz. Enjoy and SHARE THIS! It’s the most complete look at this historic address yet. -Bobby Ellerbee

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