40 Years of Hollywood Burning

(Image courtesy of Father Dylan Littlefield.)

Last month, I received an email from a reader who had noticed a pattern of historic-structure fires in Hollywood and did a little digging.

I have his permission to post this (thanks, John). I’ve added some links; please be advised that older articles in the Times may be paywalled.

The fire(s) at the Hollywood Center Motel are appalling and beyond suspicious. Years ago, the LA Times poked around at allegations that a spate of fires damaging/destroying Hollywood landmarks was so rampant, there had to be something corrupt going on. Garcetti, a councilman then, even said the coincidence warranted investigation. But they wound up merely taking city officials' word that there was nothing to see there.

Very Chinatown.

If you have any contacts at the Times, I'd urge them to do an actual investigation with the fire dept., neighbors, etc. You likely may have already flagged an editor there, but if they pooh-poohed it, give them this - I did some research! :)

Historical structures in Hollywood damaged or destroyed by fire over the 40 years or so:

Hollywood Brown Derby

Repeated fires during vacancy and deterioration (late 1980s–early 1990s); later demolished (1994). Widely cited by preservationists and repeatedly referenced in later Los Angeles Times fire/redevelopment reporting.

[Ed. note: After the Brown Derby lost its lease in 1985, another restaurant briefly occupied the building before a kitchen fire in 1987. Squatters and gang members repeatedly broke into the empty building, causing additional fires in 1990 and 1992. LADBS red-tagged it after the 1994 earthquake, calling it an imminent hazard. Couuncilwoman Jackie Goldberg was criticized for not being able to save the building. She noted at the time that she had tried, and that her office was also trying to save other historic buildings.]

Ontra Cafeteria Streamline Moderne building; fire-damaged in early 1990; demolished later that year.

[Ed. note: Ontra Cafeteria was a former post office designed by one of LA’s most important architectural firms: Morgan, Walls, and Clements. Ontra closed in 1988, was often broken into by transients, and caught on fire on March 11, 1990. The building had been declared a Historic-Cultural Monument, which does provide some protection but does not actually prevent demolition in Los Angeles. The site became a parking lot and is now a five-star hotel.]

Late Night Studios (1200 block of Vine Street): Fire gutted a two-story studio in July 1990; the Los Angeles Times notes it was a 70-year-old building and identifies prior historic use tied to entertainment production (including that the structure had once been home to the Filmarte Theatre Movie House and later a TV audience theater where the “Steve Allen Show” was made).

[Ed. note: Rik Sciacca, who co-owned Late Night Studios, was living onsite and lost nearly everything he owned in the fire. Two other production companies were based in the facility. The fire was attributed to faulty wiring.]

Hollywood Recreation Center: Originally a bowling alley and recreation hall dating to Hollywood’s early entertainment-era growth. Fire damaged the long-vacant structure in the early 1990s; subsequently demolished. This address is specifically named in preservation and redevelopment-era reporting as part of Vine Street’s loss of early commercial fabric.

[Ed. note: the Streamline Moderne facade largely survived and was incorporated into the replacement building.]

The Little Country Church of Hollywood at 1750 N. Argyle Ave. Built in 1934 as a reproduction of a rural-style church and later declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM #567) in 1992. On Christmas Eve (December 24), 2007, the church burned to the ground in a major fire. Reports describe the cause as arson or malicious fire (investigators treated it as such), though some sources also noted that previous fires and vandalism had affected the property.

[Ed. note: in what could have been a very interesting example of adaptive reuse, a developer wanted to keep the church (Sunday services and all) but add two freestanding bars and a restaurant. The developer paused plans when finding enough parking proved to be an issue, and unsurprisingly, there was opposition to turning the little church into a bar. Read more about the church, and see a video, here.]

Basque Nightclub Fire on April 30, 2008 gutted the building.

Laemmle Building: Same structure as Basque Nightclub; historically tied to early Hollywood cinema exhibition interests. Demolished later in 2008 following fire damage.

Note: Eric Garcetti (context) Then–councilman Eric Garcetti told the LA Times that the number of fires that year was suspicious, while officials said there was no proof of coordination.

{Ed. Note: the Basque Nightclub building at Hollywood and Vine had previously been a short-lived location of the Brown Derby. After the Brown Derby lost its lease, operator Walter P. Scharfe - who also ran the Pasadena location - spent around $500,000 to convert the building. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long.]

Sunset & Vine Tower: Fire occurred beneath the tower, in older underground or subgrade spaces tied to earlier commercial uses. While the tower itself was not destroyed, reporting emphasized the presence of aging, legacy structures and utilities beneath the modern development—often cited as part of Hollywood’s layered and fragile historic fabric.

Hollywood Center Motel Historic 1905-era core (“El Nido” structures). Destroyed by fire, Jan. 4–5, 2026.

Read about the motel fire here.

Read about the Hollywood Playhouse fire, which was not on John’s list, here.

And do note that these are JUST the historically/culturally/architecturally significant buildings. This 1911 bungalow, for example, barely attracted any notice when LAHD let it burn down. Not far away, these squatter-damaged (one demolished) houses only seem to be a concern to the neighbors who are forced to live with the noise, disruption, and fires.

Change and reinvention are inevitable in Hollywood, but must it catch on fire as often as it does?