LA Fridays with Bob and Tom: Hollywood Heritage Museum

LA Fridays with Bob and Tom

 Week 135. Hollywood Heritage Museum


 

This week we visit a place you have passed or parked directly across from when you visited the Hollywood Bowl, the Hollywood Heritage Museum.

This building is Hollywood’s oldest studio, built as a horse barn in 1901, and the site of the filming of Cecil B. DeMille’s, “The Squaw Man,” the first feature length film made in Hollywood in 1913 and the birthplace of Paramount Pictures.  Restored and operated since 1985 by Hollywood Heritage Inc., Hollywood’s historic preservation non-profit organization, “The Barn” is the site of programs and screenings highlighting the history of the film community as part of their overall mission to save Hollywood for the future.

Bob and I arrived fully vaccinated and masked to tour the museum.  We were met by a friendly staff member who acted as tour guide explaining the history and the many items on display.  He emphasized that much of the history covers the silent film era which ended with the advent of talkies in the late 1920’s.

The museum is open Wednesdays through Sunday, from 12 noon until 4pm, plenty of free parking.

 

ROBERT BLAUNSTEIN, PhD BIO

Robert (Bob) is a PhD physicist whose career has spanned academia, government and private industry. As a faculty member of the Department of Physics at the University of Tennessee, a Branch Chief at the United States Department of Energy and Vice President of an American International Group Company, his scientific endeavors include radiation physics, environmental research, environmental insurance and nanotechnology.

Originally from the East Coast, Bob was seduced by his sons and their families (and the California weather) to leave Washington, DC after retiring in 2010. While recovering from culture shock, Bob found many outlets to reconcile his eclectic interests. As a member of Senior Scholars for over six years he continues to take courses in a myriad of subjects ranging from film to art history to brain science and finds great intellectual and social rewards in Senior Scholars and the Plato Society.

As a latent artist, he sketches scenes about town once a week with an artist friend from his college days and is attempting to learn to play the electric guitar.

On moving to Los Angeles, he found Tom Jacobson, another recent transplant. They became great friends and decided to explore their new town together leading to over 113 sites in our city. Dubbed “LA Fridays with Bob and Tom” they are happy to share their experiences with others.

Bob lives in Brentwood with Phyllis, his wife of 56 years, an education policy executive. They have two sons and four grandchildren, one of whom plays a guitar a lot better than Bob.

 

THOMAS JACOBSON BIO

Thomas (Tom) is an attorney who practiced trial and constitutional law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Born in 1938 in Bamberg Germany, he was one of the youngest passengers on the ill-fated voyage of the Damned, the SS St. Louis, turned away from Cuba in 1939.

Tom represented local civil rights activists and Dick Gregory and twice argued cases successfully in the United States Supreme Court. In 1970 he was the Democratic candidate for Wisconsin Attorney General.

Retiring in 2008, he and wife, Peggy, moved to California to join their two sons and four grandchildren, and enjoy the warm weather.

Tom has kept busy as a member of Senior Scholars and Plato for the last six years keeping his brain stimulated and active. Yoga and swimming have kept his body in shape.