Film of current day Vitagraph Studios + Tale of Two Cities

[ASusnick]

On YouTube I posted a couple of minutes of the Vitagraph smoke stack at its base from behind (it's a mess) and the studio today. (please click watch in high quality - regular quality is horrible).
I also happened to have my camera during a private showing of a few Vitagraph films, I thought, what the hell - A Tale of Two Cities was the last film, I'll break out the camera and film Norma Talmadge at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBdk7WC-0nE
Enjoy,
Anthony Susnick

www.anthonysusnick.com
www.johnbunny.com

[Dustin]

I was there earlier last year, taking pictures and getting a feel for the place for my Florida Enchantment DVD. (I also went to St. Augustine, by train, attempting to replicate the route taken in the film. I don't recommend that.)

Is the base of the power plant smokestack still littered with garbage? Maybe it's just because I've lived in a very rural area all my life, but I wasn't expecting the whole place to be so filthy.

What really amazed me was how much was left. The power plant is gone (it's a gated driveway now), studios 1-4 are gone (parking lot and playground), but the smokestack, the offices, the lab, the factory, studio 5, and the courtyard (minus the pool) are still there.

I've never ventured to Western Vitagraph. Has anyone on the west coast been? What's left out there?


Aerial view taken between 1923-1925 compared to present day.


Administrative building.


The roof of studio 5, which sat above the laboratory, just peaking out of the background. The building in front was the "factory", but I'm not entirely clear what that means.


Base of the still-standing smokestack, where the power plant was.


Terrible shot, but this was as close as I could get to the front of the smokestack


Smokestack as it would have been visible from the back side of Vitagraph Village, looming over studios 1-4.
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Harpodeon