HISTORY OF FILMING IN LONG BEACH
In the early 1900s Long Beach offered an ideal setting for the motion picture industry. The city was already a theater town, enjoying a sunny seaside climate, with a steady pool of talented actors, directors and technicians. Along the Pike in Long Beach, there were eight film houses and two stock company theaters. As early as 1908, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle had been singing in Long Beach and even got married on stage that same year at the successful Byde A Whyle Theater.
BALBOA STUDIOS
In 1913, Long Beach’s history was changed forever with the creation of the Balboa Amusement Producing Company, also known as Balboa Studios. Balboa Studios occupied 20 buildings on 8 acres downtown, and had lots on all 4 corners of 6th and Los Alamitos, with 11 additional acres for outdoor shooting in Signal Hill, a separate township enclosed within the city of Long Beach.Overlooked by historians and the very town where so many quality movies were made between 1913 and 1918, Balboa Studios shone as a jewel of the silent era. By 1917, Balboa Studios became Long Beach's biggest employer and largest tourist attraction. Balboa made remarkable innovations in studio management and development including new methods for shooting night scenes and new techniques for color tinting. Balboa often set industry standards regarding the quality of props and wardrobe, including their maintenance, storage and care.
Sadly, the studio closed its stages permanently in 1923, ultimately being demolished for subdivisions of its parcels in 1925. Of the countless quality films produced at Balboa, the few that remain have been turning back to dust, due to nitrate decomposition and neglect. Statistics present a similarly dismal picture--80% of all silent movies in the world have disappeared, again due to nitrate decomposition and neglect, while 40% of all movies produced prior to 1952 have vanished forever.
FILMING RETURNS
Filming began to make its way back to Long Beach in the 1960s with about ten productions a year and by the late 1980s increased to 100, with features such as Lethal Weapon and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
In the early 90s, the City of Long Beach officially created the Office of Special Events and Filming where we currently issue approximately 400 permits a year.
Some notable productions include La La Land, Heat, Arrested Development, Barbie, Dexter, Creed 3, Inception, Iron Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Anchorman, CSI Miami, NCIS, Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Ford vs Ferrari, American Crime Story, and Lodge 49. Long Beach's diverse backdrops and ease of permitting makes it one of the most film-friendly cities in California.
