Discover the History
Bill Beebe Collection (3.2.2626)This program is FREE and open to all ages and includes FREE access to our exhibitions.
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The Gold Coast
DATE: May 18, 2014
TIME: 2pm – 4pm
TOPIC: Santa Monica’s Gold Coast
A lecture by noted film historian Marc Wanamaker
The lecture follows the history of the Santa Monica Beach north of the Santa Monica Pier to Santa Monica Canyon. Wanamaker traces the development of the beach from tents to house to beach clubs on the beach to this day. The social life of the Hollywood Colony, with beach parties hosted by Norma Talmadge, Bebe Daniels and Marion Davies, are highlighted during this lecture.
In the 1920s, the beach north of the Santa Monica Pier was known as the Gold Coast, because the residents along this stretch of beach were rich AND celebrated. Noted Hollywood personalities such as Irving Thalberg, Norma Shearer, Douglas Fairbanks, Cary Grant, Charlie Chaplin and Marion Davies called this beachfront property home.
EXHIBITION: [ link to exhibition page ]
Marc Wannamaker
Wanamaker has worked in many facets of film production, exhibition, and research for several decades. He is a published historian, lecturer, and teacher who taught film history at UCLA Extension for five years. He has been instrumental in the founding of the American Film Institute facilities in Beverly Hills, the creation of the Los Angeles International Film Exposition (FILMEX), and a leading consultant to the Pordenone Silent Film Conference in Italy.
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more about Marc Wannamaker
Bison Archives, a research and informational archive on the history of the motion picture industry as well as a fine art library, was founded by Wanamaker in 1971. He later formed Bison Productions as a film production arm. He co-produced a commercial documentary on Hollywood history entitled, Ticket To Hollywood and worked on more than one hundred documentaries and feature films since 1971. Using his research expertise he has consulted with many museums and archives specializing on the history of the motion picture and television industries. He is an associate with the Los Angeles County Museum, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, California State Library in Sacramento and is a history consultant with over twenty Southern California Historical Societies.
Being a film and Los Angeles area historian, he has presented countless historical programs on many aspects of historical perspective. In recent years he has been past president of the Los Angeles City Historical Society and has been archivist/museum consultant for the Culver City, Westwood, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills Historical Societies. Wanamaker was also President of the Hollywood Heritage Organization and one of the curators for the Hollywood Heritage Museum. He has been working on production and research projects for all the major and minor film and television studios in Los Angeles and New York as well as consulting on film and television related archives around the country. Marc Wanamaker is also a writer working freelance on book, newspaper, magazine and film projects, having written for Architectural Digest, Los Angeles Magazine, Los Angeles Times, American Cinematographer, Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety among others and is currently working on an encyclopedia of the American Film Studios and has authored and contributed to several books.
Lecture Highlights
Photos and video from lecture
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