Ann Dvorak’s Los Angeles Pt. 16 – Burbank Blvd. & Fulton Ave., Van Nuys
Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 281
I think I’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons I love living in Los Angeles is because of the tangible movie history that surrounds us if we know where to look. Take for instance the northwest corner of Burbank Boulevard and Fulton Avenue in the Van Nuys neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley. While most may see the lot as a rather mundane space with a mostly unoccupied food court building sitting next to the Orange Line thoroughfare that once housed Southern Pacific Railroad tracks – I see a parcel of land that Ann Dvorak owned as an investment property in the mid-1930s.
Like many members of the movie colony in the 1920s and 30s, Ann Dvorak dipped her toe into real estate and owned a number of different properties over the years in places like Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Malibu, and the Valley. Unfortunately, these holdings, which would have paid off handsomely had she held on to them, were unloaded prematurely and mainly by her third husband. This particular property in Van Nuys was sold in 1936 when Ann was under suspension by Warner Bros. while fighting them in court.
Leave it to Ann to give me a cheap thrill every time I pass this corner while cruising down Burbank Blvd.