Historic Buildings (Cont'd)

Walk past the front of the Cohn building at the end of Main Street on the Sony Pictures Studios lot and you might think you were at the old Columbia Pictures studio at Sunset and Gower in Hollywood. The front of the Cohn building, named after Columbia Pictures co-founder Harry Cohn, is an exact replica of the studio’s main entrance on "Poverty Row," a stretch of production companies on Gower Street that established themselves by making a slew of low-budget, genre films. The front of the Cohn building also bears plaques honoring brothers Harry and Jack Cohn, who, along with partner Joe Brandt, formed CBC Sales Co. in 1919.

The partners changed the name to Columbia Pictures Corporation in 1924 - the same year MGM was formed - when their business was mocked as the "corned beef and cabbage" company. Harry, a savvy and tyrannical business man, bought out Joe Brandt’s share of the company in 1932 and became the president of Columbia Pictures in Hollywood, while brother Jack manned the New York office. Despite his tough reputation, Harry is considered one of the founding fathers of the film industry as it is known today, having elevated Columbia Pictures from its second-string status to the forefront of Hollywood’s "Golden Age" with such memorable films as THE AWFUL TRUTH and ON THE WATERFRONT as well as Frank Capra’s MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON and IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, which won five Oscars® in 1934.

The Crawford Building on the Sony Pictures Studio lot was built in 1927. This Spanish Colonial Building has been designated by the City of Culver City as one of the historically significant structures on the lot. It was once Louis B. Mayer’s private dining room, and was later used as a schoolhouse for young stars like Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy McDowell. Today the Crawford Building primarily serves as production office space, for such motion picture luminaries as Peter Guber, Sean Connery and Nancy Meyers.