CBS Columbia Square (also called Columbia Studio) was the home of

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

's Los Angeles radio and television operations from 1938 until 2007. Located at 6121

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...

in Hollywood, the building housed the

CBS Radio Network CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...

's West Coast facilities, as well as CBS's original Los Angeles radio stations, KNX and

KCBS-FM KCBS-FM (93.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts an adult hits music format branded as "93.1 Jack FM". Unlike most radio stations airing th ...

. KNXT-TV, Channel 2 (now

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent out ...

) moved into the complex in 1960, and the CBS Television Network's West Coast operations were based there until it moved to the larger

CBS Television City Television City, alternatively CBS Television City, is an American television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of Fairfax Avenue. Designed by architect William Pereira and ...

in November 1952. After its purchase by CBS in 2002,

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the CBS ...

moved to the Square from studios adjacent to CBS's corporate sibling

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-olde ...

. Between 2004 and 2007 all of these operations moved to other facilities in the Los Angeles area.

Architecture and dedication

Columbia Square was built for KNX and as the Columbia Broadcasting System's West Coast operations headquarters on the site of the Nestor Film Company, Hollywood's first movie studio. The Christie Film Company eventually took over operation of

Nestor Studios The Nestor Film Company, originally known as the Nestor Motion Picture Company, was an American motion picture production company. It was founded in 1909 as the West Coast production unit of the Centaur Film Company located in Bayonne, New Jersey ...

and filmed comedies on the site, originally the location of an early Hollywood roadhouse. Prior to moving to Columbia Square, KNX had been situated at several Hollywood locations. Columbia Square was designed by Swiss-born architect

William Lescaze William Edmond Lescaze, FAIA (March 27, 1896 – February 9, 1969), was a Swiss-born American architect, city planner and industrial designer. He is ranked among the pioneers of modernism in American architecture. Biography William Lescaze ...

in the style of International Modernism and built over a year at a cost of two million dollars — more money than had ever been spent on a broadcasting facility. Lescaze's sweeping streamline motifs, porthole windows and glass brick were true to Modernist design, though CBS President William Paley insisted the Square's form follow function. In his dedicatory speech, he remarked, "It is because we believe these new Hollywood headquarters, reflecting many innovations of design and acoustics and control, will improve the art of broadcasting that we have built them and are dedicating them here tonight." Columbia Square opened April 30, 1938, with a full day of special broadcasts culminating in the star-studded evening special, "A Salute to Columbia Square" featuring

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed a ...

and

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinem ...

. Crowds thronged Sunset Boulevard and a blimp bathed in searchlights hovered overhead as the program was carried coast-to-coast on the Columbia Broadcasting System, beamed to Europe via short wave, and carried across Canada on the CBC. On that premiere broadcast, Hope joked that Columbia Square looked like "the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

with a permanent wave." Jolson quipped, "It looks like

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...

's bathroom." The Square's original configuration included eight studios. Studios 1 through 4 were to the left of the main entrance. Upstairs were Studios 5 through 7 and at the rear of the forecourt was the large auditorium referred to as the "Columbia Playhouse" that seated 1050. In 1940, two new audience theatres were added to the east of the auditorium called "Studio B" and "Studio C" each seating approximately 350 people. Shows such as

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...

's '' Lucky Strike Program'' and ''

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where i ...

'' originated from Studio B.

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...

's ''

My Favorite Husband ''My Favorite Husband'' is the name of an American radio program and network television series. The original radio show, starring Lucille Ball, evolved into the groundbreaking television sitcom '' I Love Lucy''. The series was based on the nove ...

'', '' Blondie'', and '' Dr. Christian'' are a few of the shows that broadcast from Studio C. When B and C were built, the Columbia Playhouse then took the letter designation of "Studio A". Studio A was home to ''The Silver Theatre'', ''The Swan Show starring

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...

and

Gracie Allen Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964) was an American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man, ...

'', '' The Lady Esther Screen Guild Players'' and countless others. The complex included Brittingham's Radio Center Restaurant, a men's clothing store, and a branch of the Bank of America. Tours of the studios cost 40 cents and passed by a glass-windowed control room housing Columbia's West Coast master control. "Columbia Square was one of the glories of radio. It was somewhat sacred to those in the industry. There was nothing comparable to its splendor in New York" says writer-producer

Norman Corwin Norman Lewis Corwin (May 3, 1910 – October 18, 2011) was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest successes were in the writing and directing of radio drama during the ...

whose most famous broadcast, ''On a Note of Triumph,'' originated from the Square on VE Day, 1945. In early 2009, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission and the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

designated CBS Columbia Square Studios as a historic-cultural monument.

Programs

Columbia Square became home to some of the best-known comedies of radio's golden age.

Burns and Allen Burns and Allen was an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen. They worked together as a successful comedy team that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over forty years. The d ...

Edgar Bergen Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Ch ...

Red Skelton Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program ''The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars ...

Eve Arden Eve Arden (born Eunice Mary Quedens, April 30, 1908 – November 12, 1990) was an American film, radio, stage and television actress. She performed in leading and supporting roles for nearly six decades. Beginning her film career in 1929 ...

(''

Our Miss Brooks ''Our Miss Brooks'' is an American sitcom starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high-school English teacher. It began as a Old Time Radio, radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television (1952–56), it became ...

''),

Jack Oakie Jack Oakie (born Lewis Delaney Offield; November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's '' The Great Dictator'' (19 ...

and

Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-cre ...

sparked to the airways from the Square. Dramas included ''

Suspense Suspense is a state of mental uncertainty, anxiety, being undecided, or being doubtful. In a dramatic work, suspense is the anticipation of the outcome of a plot or of the solution to an uncertainty, puzzle, or mystery, particularly as it ...

''; ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central chara ...

''; and ''Man Behind the Gun'', written, directed and produced by William N. Robson; '' Dr. Christian'', "

The Whistler ''The Whistler'' is an American radio mystery drama which ran from May 16, 1942, until September 22, 1955, on the west-coast regional CBS radio network. The show was also broadcast in Chicago and over Armed Forces Radio. On the west coast, it w ...

", ''

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar ''Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar'' is a radio drama that aired on CBS Radio from February 18, 1949 to September 30, 1962. The first several seasons imagined protagonist Johnny Dollar as a private investigator drama, with Charles Russell, Edmond O'B ...

'', '' The CBS Radio Workshop'', where author

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

introduced a production of ''

Brave New World ''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierar ...

'' and ''Columbia Presents Corwin'' — dramas produced by

. In May 1945 Corwin's "On A Note Of Triumph" was produced in studio A marking the end of the war in Europe and to mark the end of the second world war Corwin produced "14 August" in Studio A. Musical acts that performed at Columbia Square included

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song " Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me", " Mambo Italiano" ...

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

and

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

. Composer Bernard Hermann frequently scored and conducted Columbia Square broadcasts. Through the facilities of KNX, the Columbia network broadcast big band music from nearby ballrooms including the

Hollywood Palladium The Hollywood Palladium is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with room for up to 4,000 p ...

and the Earl Caroll Theater. When ''The Bing Crosby Show'' moved to CBS in 1949 it took over space on the second floor of the east side of Columbia Square. A tape recording and editing facility also was built there to support the show. It was the first facility of its kind to support a national radio show. The recording sessions and the audience shows were usually held in the CBS theater at 1615 Vine Street just south of Hollywood Boulevard. With the new three recorder facility, the radio show evolved from a cut and splice operation into one that was created from many different recording sessions with audience reactions incorporated. It was new territory explored by the Crosby team. In the late 1940s and early 1950s Columbia Square also served as a CBS television facility. In 1948, the first West Coast-based variety program, ''The Ed Wynn Show'', was produced on Stage A.

's first national TV appearance took place on ''The Ed Wynn Show'' in December 1949 (aired on the East Coast just after New Year). Within the year Stage A would be the location of the shooting of the pilot episode of ''

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...

''. In the 2005 KNX broadcast, ''A Salute to Columbia Square'', announcer George Walsh recalled crowds jamming the Square's forecourt for tickets to live broadcasts. (Ushers would sometimes walk down

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...

's studios at

Vine Street Vine Street is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north–south between Franklin Avenue and Melrose Avenue. The intersection with Hollywood Boulevard was once a symbol of Hollywood itself. The famed intersection fell into ...

to urge audience members to watch a Columbia Square broadcast instead.) After their on-air appearances, actors would dash to the Radio Actors Telephone Exchange in the Square's lobby to check with their agents about their next bookings. In 2007, KCRW and other public radio stations broadcast "Remembering Columbia Square: A Salute to a Palace of Broadcasting" featuring Norman Corwin, George Burns, Jack Benny, Jim Hawthorne, Janet Waldo, Art Gilmore, Alan Young, Herb Ellis, Art Linkletter, Gil Stratton, Harry Shearer, Marie Wilson, Mel Baldwin and sound effects man Ray Erlenborn. The program was produced by Gerald Zelinger.

Bob Crane Robert Edward Crane (July 13, 1928 – June 29, 1978) was an American actor, drummer, radio personality, and disc jockey known for starring in the CBS situation comedy ''Hogan's Heroes''. Crane was a drummer from age 11, and he began his en ...

was a top-rated KNX deejay at Columbia Square in the 1960s and

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, '' Rebel Without a Caus ...

worked as an usher. Some of the Square's once-luxurious radio theaters were converted to recording studios for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

where

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

and many other top stars recorded albums.

Adaptive reuse

KNX moved into new studios in the Miracle Mile neighborhood on L.A.'s

Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the princip ...

which it shares with

Entercom Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...

Radio stations

KFWB KFWB (980 AM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs a classic Regional Mexican music format. KFWB is owned by Lotus Communications. The station has a colorful history, being the radio voice of Warner Bros. Studios ...

KTWV KTWV (94.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, and broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., and airs an urban adult contemporary radio format. KTWV has studios on W ...

, and

KRTH KRTH (101.1 FM, "K-Earth 101") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts a classic hits format. KRTH's st ...

. KNX, the last radio station to operate in Hollywood, moved after 67 years of operation at the Square just after 11:00 p.m. August 12, 2005, following a farewell broadcast from its Columbia Square studios. On April 21, 2007, KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV left the building and moved their operations to the

CBS Studio Center Radford Studio Center, alternatively CBS Studio Center, is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. The lot has 18 sound stages from , of office space, and 223 dressing rooms ...

Studio City Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

, thus ending Columbia Square's status as a broadcast facility, one of a very few remaining in Hollywood. The Square fell into disrepair during the years in which

Laurence Tisch Laurence Alan Tisch (March 5, 1923 – November 15, 2003) was an American businessman, investor and billionaire. He was the CEO of CBS television network from 1986 to 1995. With his brother Bob Tisch, he was part owner of Loews Corporation ...

chaired CBS, and

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere ...

problems were cited as a reason to demolish the venue. Sungow Corp acquired Columbia Square in 2003 for $15 million.

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

-based developer Molasky Pacific LLC, acquired the property in August 2006 for $66 million. It planned to redevelop the complex to continue to attract entertainment industry tenants and is considering options that would add some residential units to the office and broadcasting facility. The project is valued at $850-million and is the largest development project in Hollywood, California. The redevelopment of the historic CBS Studios on Sunset was approved in 2009 with a controversial 28-story tower. Developer Kilroy Realty Group acquired the project in 2012 and changed plans — when completed the new Columbia Square will feature a 20-story residential tower with 200 apartments, of retail, three renovated historic structures, two new office buildings with an additional of space, and four and a half levels of underground parking. The development was under construction by 2014. In fall 2007, producer Viacom, owner of CBS until 2006, chose the site for MTV's '' The Real World: Hollywood''. The

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

and

Los Angeles Conservancy The Los Angeles Conservancy is a historic preservation organization in Los Angeles, California. It works to document, rescue and revitalize historic buildings, places and neighborhoods in the city. The Conservancy is the largest membership based ...

have been actively engaged in efforts to preserve the Hollywood landmark. In November 2014, Kilroy Realty Group announced that Viacom would be leasing most of the space in one of the new office buildings on the site, for the West Coast offices of its cable television networks, including MTV,

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programm ...

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...

and

Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was o ...

; these offices had been in Santa Monica and other parts of the Los Angeles area. (Spike TV rebranded as Paramount Network in 2018; Viacom and CBS re-merged in 2019 to form

ViacomCBS Paramount Global (doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. It ...

References

External links

CBS corporate website

CBS Radio website

at the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
A Salute to Columbia Square
2005 documentary detailing the Hollywood landmark's history by Michael Linder. Interviews, rare audio. The final KNX broadcast from the historic studios. Length: 54:00
KNX 1070 moving from Columbia Square in Hollywood, KCBS 2's Lisa Sigell reports
ASF WMV Streaming media {{Authority control Columbia Square Culture of Los Angeles Former buildings and structures in California Television studios in the United States Buildings and structures in Hollywood, Los Angeles Recording studios in California Office buildings completed in 1938 1938 establishments in California

Architecture and dedication

Programs

Adaptive reuse

See also

References

External links