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Nestor Studios
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nestor Motion Picture Company of Bayonne, New Jersey, owned by David Horsley and his brother William, opened the first motion picture studio in Hollywood in the Blondeau Tavern building at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street in the fall of 1911.
California weather allowed for year-around filming and the ambitious studio operated three principal divisions under its Canadian General Manager, Al Christie. The Horsley brothers remained in New Jersey where their laboratory and offices handled the Hollywood studio's film processing and distribution, but Al Christie moved permanently to California from the East where he had been working with the Horsley brothers, creating the extremely popular Mutt and Jeff comedy films.
One division at the new Hollywood location, under director Milton H. Fahrney, made one single-reel Western picture every week while the second division under Tom Ricketts turned out one single-reel drama each week. In addition to his running the operation, Al Christie oversaw a weekly production of one single-reel Mutt and Jeff comedy episode.
Other East Coast filmmakers soon opened studios in Hollywood and in 1912, Nestor Studios, along with several others, merged with the new Universal Film Company led by Carl Laemmle.
The Providencia Land and Water Development Company property was used as a location for some early motion pictures. In particular, it was used for the battle scenes in Birth of a Nation. In 1912 Carl Laemmle (IMP) Universal Pictures took over the assets of Nestor Studios and named this area Universal City. The photograph of this area can be seen in Los Angeles Library archives: "A Birds Eye View of Universal City":
