You probably think the first Hollywood movie was some sprawling epic with a cast of thousands and a massive budget. Honestly? It was a 17-minute silent short about Mexican-era California, filmed by a guy who was basically a fugitive from the law.
In 1910, D.W. Griffith—the man who would later create the massive, albeit deeply controversial Birth of a Nation—brought a crew to a dusty, religious little hamlet called Hollywood. At the time, Hollywood wasn't a glitzy mecca. It was a dry patch of land filled with lemon groves and people who hated fun. No, seriously. The town was founded by Harvey Wilcox, a prohibitionist who wanted a "sober" community.
Griffith’s film was literally titled In Old California.
It’s the first movie ever shot entirely within the borders of Hollywood. But the story of why they were there in the first place is way more "wild west" than the movies they were actually making.
The Patent Wars and the Great Escape West
The real reason Hollywood exists isn't because the light was "magical," though the 300 days of sunshine definitely helped. It was because of Thomas Edison.
Edison owned the patents on almost everything involved in making a movie. If you wanted to use a camera or a projector, you had to pay the "Trust" (the Motion Picture Patents Company). If you didn't? Edison’s "enforcers"—who were basically hired thugs—would show up and break your equipment. Or your legs.
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Independent filmmakers realized that if they moved to Southern California, they were as far away from Edison’s New Jersey lawyers as possible. Plus, if a process server showed up, they could grab the cameras and sprint for the Mexican border, which was only a few hours away.
Why the "Old California" Setting Mattered
Filmmakers like Griffith weren't just running from the law; they were looking for a specific look. Early audiences were obsessed with the "Spanish Fantasy" version of California. They wanted:
- Crumbling missions.
- Romanticized "Californio" culture.
- Huge, sweeping vistas that didn't look like the industrial East Coast.
In Old California (1910) wasn't some deep historical documentary. It was a melodrama set in the 19th century when California was still under Mexican rule. It featured a Spanish lady and a handsome hero, using the rugged, unpaved hills of the Cahuenga Pass as a backdrop.
It Wasn't Just Hollywood: San Diego and Santa Barbara Were First
Here’s a fact that usually annoys L.A. natives: San Diego was actually the first "film capital" of the West.
As early as 1898, the Edison Manufacturing Company was already filming short clips of the Hotel del Coronado. By 1911, Allan Dwan and the "Flying A" Studios were churning out westerns in La Mesa, near San Diego. They made over 150 films in just one year.
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Dwan was a legend. He’d scout a location in the morning, write a script over lunch, and film a cowboy chase in the afternoon. He famously had to face down Edison’s patent thugs with a shotgun to keep his cameras rolling.
Meanwhile, in Santa Barbara, the Flying A eventually built one of the largest film studios in the world (at the time) at the corner of Mission and State streets. For a hot second, Santa Barbara was actually more "Hollywood" than Hollywood was.
The "Global" Map of Old California
By the 1920s, studios had figured out that California’s geography was basically a cheat code. They didn't need to travel to the Alps or the Sahara.
A famous 1927 Paramount location map shows exactly how they "faked" the world:
- The Sahara Desert: Played by the dunes in Oxnard or the Coachella Valley.
- The Swiss Alps: Played by the snow-capped peaks of Truckee and Big Bear.
- The South Seas: Played by the rocky shores of Monterey and Laguna Beach.
- New England: Played by the wooded areas of the Santa Cruz mountains.
This "synecdoche" for the world is why the industry stayed. You could film a scene in "Alaska" in the morning (Mount Whitney) and be back in "The Tropics" (a palm grove in Riverside) by dinner.
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What’s Left of "In Old California" Today?
If you go to Hollywood and Sunset today, you won't see lemon groves. You'll see traffic.
But the echoes are there. The Nestor Film Company, which opened the first actual studio in Hollywood in 1911, took over an old roadhouse called the Blondeau Tavern. That spot is now the site of Sunset Gower Studios.
The original In Old California was lost for decades until a copy was rediscovered. Watching it now is a trip. You see the hills behind Hollywood before they were covered in mansions. No "Hollywood" sign (that didn't go up until 1923, and it originally said HOLLYWOODLAND). Just raw, dusty terrain.
How to Experience the Era of Old California Cinema
If you're a film nerd or a history buff, don't bother with the Walk of Fame. It’s a tourist trap. Instead, go where the real history happened.
- Lone Pine: This is where thousands of Westerns were shot. The Alabama Hills look exactly like they did in the 1920s. There’s a Film History Museum there that is honestly much better than most of the museums in L.A.
- Paramount Ranch: Located in Agoura Hills, this was a "movie ranch" where studios built entire Western towns. Much of it was damaged in the Woolsey Fire, but the National Park Service is rebuilding it.
- Hotel del Coronado: You can still walk through the halls where some of the very first motion pictures in the state were recorded.
- The Silent Movie Theater (Fairfax): It’s one of the few places that still occasionally screens the actual films from this era with live organ accompaniment.
The transition from "lemon groves" to "movie sets" happened in less than a decade. By the time Cecil B. DeMille arrived to film The Squaw Man in 1913, the rustic, sleepy vibe of Old California was already dead. The industry had taken over.
What started as a way to dodge patent lawsuits turned into the most powerful cultural export in history. And it all started with a 17-minute short about a time in California that was already a memory.
Next Steps for History Buffs:
Check out the digital archives at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures or visit the Hollywood Heritage Museum, which is housed in the actual barn Cecil B. DeMille used as his first studio. Seeing the physical space where the "Old California" myth was manufactured gives you a perspective that no textbook can.