Lost Hollywood

by David Wallace

A rich trip into a vanished place and time, Lost Hollywood tells the story of the world's most image-conscious city through the fantastical places and people who once held center stage. From Marion Davies' extraordinary Santa Monica playpen Ocean House, known as "Xanadu by the Sea," to America's first luxe housing development, Whitley Heights, and its now-iconic Mediterranean architecture, long gone building projects are brought back to vivid life. This delicious and engrossing book also unearths fresh details on classic institutions from the Hollywood Canteen to the Garden of Allah, from the Brown Derby and the Cocoanut Grove to the legendary Pickfair.

Lost Hollywood resurrects a colorful and evocative era in the history of the movies and will delight and inform even the most knowledgeable film buff.

Genres: History, Film, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

"David Wallace is a journalist who has covered celebrities and the movie industry for over twenty years. He lives in Los Angeles."

Reviews

[Graceann · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Wallace looks back at the early days of Hollywood in a loving and entertaining way. Despite some glaring errors that would have been easily caught by a skilled copy-editor, I still give this one four stars for sheer readability and enjoyability.

[Annie Garvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are lots of errors in this book. For example, page 144, Norma Talmadge was Joe Schenck's wife. Norma Shearer was Irving Thalberg's wife. The book needed a good fact checker and editor.

[Jim Dooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t recall encountering a thematic concept quite like the one used in LOST HOLLYWOOD. It provides tantalizing stories about the history of Hollywood from its founding through to a rebirth in the 1970’s and 1980’s based on the locations where they occurred. These were mostly buildings, but they also included yachts, and famous automobiles (with the occasional motorcycle).

So, for instance, in a chapter about famous restaurants in Hollywood, the Reader is treated to details about the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, the Trocadero, the Mocambo, the Brown Derby (and its off-shoots), Romanoff’s, and Perino’s Restaurant among others. We learn who ate there, why they were popular hotspots, special items from the menus ... and, of course, the “juicy stories” that played out there.

Although I’ve read many books about this period, there were still new stories that I had not known before. There was also a sense of loss when I was told how a major Hollywood landmark was torn down or had fallen into disrepair ... or that Errol Flynn’s prized yacht was last reported decaying in a French harbor.

Overall, it is a very good initiation into the “myth and magic” of Hollywood. I was surprised by the amount of detail regarding how Hollywood came to be, compressing a fairly complicated series of events into an understandable sequence.

My favorite approach remains telling these stories using specific films as background. Yet, LOST HOLLYWOOD definitely held my interest.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was super entertaining and made me want to revisit LA. Some of the stuff was familiar, but a lot of it was new to me and made recall how I fell in love with movies.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compares sites all over Hollywood: then/now.. Explains current status of or explanation of what happened to the Golden Era landmarks/happening places..
stated 80% of all Silent movies ever made have been destroyed. they didn't see any value in storing them, and the primitive film itself would corrode.

[Erin Tuzuner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun romp through the sepia toned past, and further proof that everything was more fun before I was born. A highlight of the history of Hollywood scandals, architecture and cultural impact on this ever growing country. A fast, deceptively educational novel.

[Lín · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was delicious! Bite-sized chapters of tantalizing Hollywood history - I can't wait to read the next one of his books. I learned so much that I did not know, and it made me very curious about 'what ever happened to"... so many people, places, and things. Time for some research!

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inconsistent. A bunch of very short essays on Hollywood history. Some are quite fascinating, especially on the very early years. It gets a bit hagiographic towards the end, and at times lacks substance or criticality.

[Milford Public Library Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read with short chapters detailing some of the landmarks that are now long-gone from the golden age of Hollywood--places like Douglas Fairbanks & Mary Pickford's home "Pickfair," once the destination of many of the Hollywood elite; and the Brown Derby restaurant, where an adoring public would go in the hopes of catching a glimpse of their favorite stars.
There's also a great chapter on the history and preservation of the iconic Hollywood sign.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful nostalgic trip to the lost Hollywood, filled with sad and funny stories. I can see myself rereading it again in the future, that’s how much I liked it.

It makes you feel like you’re seeing everything with your own eyes, as if you were there too. But then it also reminds you that these are legends of the past, even if not a lot of people know them or remember them.

Simply beautiful.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read if you're interested in Hollywood of old. Read how it all began, from Edison's early stranglehold on the industry, to the rise and fall of the studio system, and everything in between. It's Tinseltown magic!

[Leslie Zemeckis]

Fun “gossipy” but fact filled (but no sources cited) light book about many Hollywood names I didn’t know about
Great history
Fun
Worth the read

[Dkeslin]

Fantastic trivia about early Hollywood and the stars. It was so good I ordered a copy for my own film library!!!