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A German Hollywood Tour
Tracing the German-Hollywood Connection
“Los Angeles has always been a city of strangers. Even to
this day you hardly ever meet anyone who was born there.”
— John Russel Taylor, Strangers in Paradise, 1983
 I N T R O D U C T I O N
The inspiration for this tour
The idea for this virtual tour of Hollywood's Germanic history is not entirely my own. The inspiration for our online German-Hollywood Connection tour came from Cornelius Schnauber and a fascinating book he wrote (see photo). The original German version of Hollywood Haven (Spaziergänge durch das Hollywood der Emigranten) was published in 1992. It was not until 1997 that an English translation by Barbara Zeisl Schoenberg was published in the United States by the Ariadne Press.
> Buy the Book
In his unique guidebook, Schnauber takes the reader on six main Hollywood/Los Angeles tours, plus some special excursions to points as far away as Palm Springs and Santa Barbara. But the main focus can be seen in the subtitle of Hollywood Haven: Homes and Haunts of the European Émigrés and Exiles in Los Angeles. Instead of the usual “homes of the stars/wax museum” tour, Schnauber's book gives you a chance to journey into Hollywood's interesting past, as well as its present.
Not long after buying a copy of Hollywood Haven, I traveled to Los Angeles to try it out on the spot. (Some of the photos you'll see here in our virtual tour were taken during that first Hollywood trip.) Later I met with the author in Los Angeles to ask his permission to create an abbreviated Web version of his book. He kindly agreed, but the online version was delayed for some time by other projects. At long last here it is!
If you decide to do use Schnauber's book for your own live tour (and I recommend it highly), be sure to allow enough time for the various stages, and be prepared to avoid exhaustion by taking frequent breaks. (The author himself suggests specific pauses: “Perhaps we should stop for a cup of coffee at their former meeting place.”) After my first tour following Schnauber's book, I had renewed respect for the research and time that must have gone into his project. In the meantime, we offer you an easier armchair (computer chair?) tour via the Web. But our virtual tour only offers a small portion of the book's detail and what you'll experience in a real-life trek along the German-Hollywood trail.
Los Angeles and Berlin
This statue of Berlin's bear symbol, a gift from LA's sister
city, stands at the entrance to Griffith Park. It's on the tour.
Photo © Hyde Flippo
Before we get started, let's talk about some related L.A. trivia, some of which is not mentioned in Hollywood Haven. Did you know that Berlin and Los Angeles are official sister cities? This is appropriate in several ways. Berlin and nearby Potsdam/Babelsberg were Germany's Hollywood in the 1920s and '30s. Before a combination of the advent of sound, the Nazis and the Second World War decimated the German film industry, the Ufa studios in Babelsberg were Hollywood's most serious competition. Berlin is a sprawling, huge metro area. Los Angeles, Hollywood's home, is also a vast metro area that sprawls eastward from southern California's coast and south from the San Fernando Valley to Orange County and Anaheim. The German and Austrian “strangers in paradise” who arrived in Hollywood in the 1920s and '30s usually came directly or indirectly from Berlin. The palm trees and the California weather seemed exotic, but L.A.'s urban spread was nothing new.
Berlin's AVUS in the 1920s was the first autobahn,
but the freeway was perfected in Los Angeles.
Photo © H. Flippo
The vastness of Los Angeles is one reason that a walking tour of Hollywood is very impractical. Although we do recommend a few walking treks in particular areas, a car is a must for any serious Hollywood exploration. First-time visitors to “Hollywood” are surprised to learn just how much distance separates the major studios from one another. A drive along the length of the world-famous Sunset Boulevard winds for more than 20 miles between downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica on the Pacific coast.
Hollywood history — lost and found
In reality, the place that is rather loosely called Hollywood covers many square miles stretching from Culver City north to the San Fernanado Valley and back over to Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. From its early beginnings around 1910, Hollywood has been more than just a geographic location. Although the name stuck, the film studios long ago spread beyond the original boundaries. In the decades since 1910, Hollywood has undergone many other significant changes. But it is a place with almost no sense of history. All too often the old gives way to the new, with hardly a glance back. As soon as a famous Hollywood personality dies, someone buys the house and tears it down to build something new — usually bigger if not better. Many famous Hollywood landmarks, such as the Brown Derby restaurant, opened in 1926, are no longer standing. But it's still not too late to see some of Hollywood's history.
The Hollywood Exiles Tour
Exiled artists from Austria and Germany poured into Hollywood after 1933. Even now in the 21st century, their influence can still be seen, felt, and heard in the American film metropolis. Let's start our tour now...
N E X T > Start Tour
The Villa Aurora
Special Sidetrip - The Feuchtwanger Residence
You reach the Villa Aurora from Los Angeles and Hollywood via Sunset Boulevard. Drive west until you're almost at the Pacific Ocean. Just after you drive through the main shopping area of Pacific Palisades, follow a few curves until you pass the fire station on your right and then turn right onto Paseo Miramar...
T O U R > Villa Aurora
Hollywood Haven: Homes and Haunts of the European Émigrés and Exiles in Los Angeles
by Cornelius Schnauber, Copyright © 1997 Ariadne Press, Riverside, Calif. Excerpts used by permission.
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