THE MISSION OF HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE IS
TO PRESERVE, PROTECT AND PROMOTE THE
HISTORY, ARCHITECTURE AND ARTIFACTS
OF HOLLYWOOD
The Hollywood Heritage Museum
in the Lasky-DeMille Barn
Under the stewardship of Hollywood Heritage, the Lasky-DeMille Barn, built in 1901, has been restored and now houses the Hollywood Heritage Museum. The story of the early Hollywood - its emerging motion picture industry and its historic community - is presented through archival photographs, original documents, movie props and related memorabilia. Visitors can step inside the very structure where Cecil B. DeMille maintained his office, furnished with selected personal belongings, and where countless movies were filmed and studio staff worked, collaborated, and socialized.
On December 27, 1956, the Lasky-DeMille Barn was designated California State Historic Landmark No. 554, recognizing its pivotal role in the birth of the Hollywood motion picture industry. Since 1985, Hollywood Heritage has funded the preservation, restoration and ongoing maintenance of the barn. It remains the oldest surviving motion picture production building in Hollywood, first established as the Burns-Revier Studio in 1912, and becoming the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in 1913. Lasky's company later merged with Adolph Zuckor’s Famous Players in 1916 to form Famous Players-Lasky, which subsequently merged with Paramount Distributing Company, ultimately becoming Paramount Pictures.
In 2014, the Lasky-DeMille Barn was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places, securing its place as one of Hollywood's most significant cultural landmarks.
Our First Museum Donor: Albert C. Rosenfelder, 1985
ALBERT CLAYTON ROSENFELDER
Albert C. Rosenfelder played an important role in the early development of the Hollywood Heritage Museum, then known as The Hollywood Studio Museum. When he died on January 12, 1985, he left behind a substantial collection of movie memorabilia, that he had long hoped would one day be displayed in a museum.
Al had designated his estate for "a" Hollywood museum. wording that created some uncertainty at a time when several organizations were pursuing plans for such an institution. Significantly, however, he had attached his Hollywood Heritage membership card to his will, a simple gesture that ultimately helped establish his connection to the organization and ensure that his estate came to Hollywood Heritage after brief but complicated period.
One competing effort was led by the Peter Gordon Group, which sought to establish a museum in the Garden Court Apartments. That effort was complicated by a disputed sale in which the building had reportedly been sold to two different buyers. Another potential claimant was the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation, which held title to materials donated for an earlier Hollywood Museum planned opposite the Hollywood Bowl in 1960.
By 1983, the Lasky-DeMille Barn had been relocated to the earlier museum project under an agreement with Hollywood Heritage. The County subsequently approached the organization with a proposal: it would withdraw their claims to the Rosenfelder estate if the funds were used to install air condition and an alarm system in the Barn. Hollywood Heritage readily agreed.
Al was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1906. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he worked as a salesman and caretaker prior to relocating to Los Angeles sometime prior to 1950. He lived on McCadden Street in Hollywood, next door to Victor Carriero, a journalist with Brazil's Cinefilo magazine. Al owned two houses, one served as his residence, while the other was devoted to his extraordinary collection.
That collection, comprising of more than 3,000 photographs and documents relating to performers of stage, screen, radio, television, and recorded music, became the foundation of the Hollywood Heritage Museum's permanent holdings. Among these materials are numerous letters and candid photographs from silent-era performers whom Al and his friends personally visited and photographed.
It was only when museum staff processed the full bequest that personal correspondence came to light identifying Al as a member of the LGBTQ community. His passion for Hollywood history, and his dream that the collection he so carefully assembled would one day have a home in a museum, live on through the work of Hollywood Heritage today.
During Pride Month, we honor Al C. Rosenfelder, his legacy, and the profound debt Hollywood Heritage owes to his generosity, foresight, and love of Hollywood history.
