12018-05-07T23:58:46+00:00Maxim Gantmane367dd3e888778c6d1cdc9af1607dfd94428f169511929plain2018-05-07T23:58:46+00:00Maxim Gantmane367dd3e888778c6d1cdc9af1607dfd94428f169The Story of the Hollywood Jews
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12018-05-07T23:58:46+00:00Maxim Gantmane367dd3e888778c6d1cdc9af1607dfd94428f169Temples, Social Clubs, and Miscellaneous Image ArchiveMaxim Gantman2plain4592018-05-08T00:28:06+00:00Maxim Gantmane367dd3e888778c6d1cdc9af1607dfd94428f169
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12018-05-07T23:58:46+00:00Hollywood Athletic Club1plain2018-05-07T23:58:46+00:00In 1924, Charlie Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, and Rudolph Valentino founded the Hollywood Athletic Club, a nine-story building located at 6525 Sunset Blvd, which contained fifty-four hotel rooms, bungalows in the garden, an indoor Olympic-sized swimming pool, a gymnasium with a running track, steam rooms, saunas, a restaurant, a library, a cigar lounge, a barbershop, a haberdashery, squash courts and a variety of game rooms. Meyer & Holler, the architects behind the construction of the club, also constructed other properties such as Ince Studio, Chaplin Studio, Goldwyn Studio, Grauman’s Egyptian and Chinese Theaters. The Hollywood Athletic Club at the time of its opening was the tallest structure in Los Angeles. While not strictly a Jewish club, it was Hollywood’s movie industry’s answer to the clubs they were forbidden step into. Even though the membership rolls consisted of mostly men, women and children who were related to members could become members of the club. Initially, membership fees stood at one hundred and fifty dollars for initiation fees with ten dollars per month for dues.
The club mostly served as a social retreat for the Hollywood film industry, and by 1926 it was serving around 1000 members. Some of the members included its founders, as well as Lewis Milestone, Groucho Marx, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford.
The Hollywood Athletic Club also established their own sports teams including baseball, basketball, wrestling, boxing, water polo, track, hockey, and soccer. However, the club was not only used for athletic reasons, meetings, dinners, and other social events were organized. The Screen Writers Guild and the Screen Directors Guild met here in the mid-1930s to discuss studio contracts. Sonya Levien belonged to the Screen Writers Guild, and it would not be surprising if she became a member of the club as well.
