Mistaken Monument

The demolition of the Bertco Graphics building on Glendale Boulevard has generated concern about the fate of the monument dedicated to silent film pioneer Mack Sennett. (photo by City of Angels .) The memorial obelisk was established in the 1950s to honor the filmmaker on the site of his studio, where Charlie Chaplin, the Keystone Kops and other silent film greats began made their first films. The problem is the monument is in the wrong place. Read the messages on a silent film user group.

Sennett’s studio was located about two blocks south at 1712 Glendale Boulevard, which is Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument N0. 256. One of the studio buildings is currently used as a Public Storage facility. The Bertco buildings occupied part of what may have been the Selig Polyscope studio, which opened in 1909 as the city’s first permanent film studio (sorry, Hollywood was not in the picture at this point). A string of studios operated here along the Echo Park-Silverlake border in an area then known as Edendale.

One person who spoke to a member of the demolition crew said the marker was to be placed in storage and moved to another location.