THE STORY OF CENTURY CITY 1970s LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA PROMOTIONAL FILM 53524

This promotional film for Century City dates to the early 1970s, when Los Angeles' "city within a city" came into its own. It features a futuristic score by Mort Garson and was produced by John McComb and written, photographed and edited by Lee Chaney and Filmagic. Century City is actually a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles County's Westside. Outside of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of the metropolitan area's most prominent employment centers, and its skyscrapers form a distinctive skyline on the Westside. As the film shows, the district was developed on the former backlot of film studio 20th Century Fox. The demolition of the lot is seen in the film's opening, with movie set after movie set being bulldozed, and "celluloid dreams crumbled". At 1:37, some of the world's foremost architects arrive to plan the development, dominated by the Century Plaza and the Avenue of the Stars.
The land of Century City originally belonged to cowboy actor Tom Mix, who used it as a ranch. It became a backlot of 20th Century Fox, which still has its headquarters just to the southwest. The area is named for the 20th Century Fox's Century Property.
In 1956, Spyros Skouras (1893-1971), who served as the President of 20th Century Fox from 1942-62, and his nephew-in-law Edmond Herrscher (died 1983), an attorney sometimes known as "the father of Century City," decided to repurpose the land for real estate development. The following year, in 1957, they commissioned a master-plan development from Welton Becket Associates, which was unveiled at a major press event on the "western" backlot later that year.
In 1961, after Fox suffered a string of expensive flops, culminating with the financial strain put on the studio by the very expensive production of Cleopatra, the film studio sold about 180 acres to developer William Zeckendorf and Aluminum Co. of America, also known as Alcoa, for US$300 million (US$2.4 billion in 2014's money). Herrscher had encouraged his uncle-in-law to borrow money instead, but once Skouras refused, he was out of the picture.
The new owners conceived Century City as "a city within a city". In 1963, the first building, Gateway West Building, was completed. The next year, in 1964, Minoru Yamasaki designed the Century Plaza Hotel. Five years later, in 1969, architects Anthony J. Lumsden and César Pelli designed the Century City Medical Plaza.
Much of the shopping center's architecture and style can be seen in numerous sequences in the 1967 Fox film, A Guide for the Married Man, as well as in a sequence in another Fox film of the same year, Caprice. Century City's plaza as it appeared in the early 1970s can be viewed in several scenes of still another Fox film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
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[@HerrFenchel]

Watching these is sometimes better than taking hallucinogenes

[@GeorgeVreelandHill]

I live and work next door in Beverly Hills. I love Century City. Thank you for the history tour.

[@grahamhill6340]

I worked for the late 20th Century-Fox for 25 years and among other things was their studio historian... this rare promo film for Century City is priceless!

[@user-xd2rj1tx4y]

Your fake

[@robertahart8381]

I was born here in L.A. and grew up all over Southern CA. I never knew this history about Century City! this was fascinating! Loved all the old sights and scenes, the fashions and the optimism about our future. I miss that so much. Beautiful!

[@jamesalford756]

Were you aware that Century City derives from the financial failure of the film Cleopatra? In 1963 20th Century Fox paid Elizabeth Taylor $1,000,000.00 to play the role, on top of that, the production went tremendously over budget and ticket sales didn't break even, forcing Fox to shut down all productions until it was decided to sale off parcels of their back lot; one of those purchasers was Don Adams who invested his money earned from Get Smart and Tennessee Tuxedo and lived in Century City until his death.

[@cwboydgo323]

What part of LA. I grew up in Hollywood area

[@Symmetre]

On my first visit to LA we stayed at Century Plaza Hotel in 1977. I was blown away by the entire complex, and a couple months later we moved from Massachusetts to West LA. As a kid, my friends and I would ride our bikes all around Century City. This is a great video detailing the development.

[@Specter1065]

I miss the 70's

[@SupSupa10]

Sorry but how old are you ?

[@narika14]

@@SupSupa10 - Me too. I miss the seventies as well.

[@jamesrsfo]

This is a fantastic video!! I worked and played in Century City throughout the 90’s.

[@thatDonOguy]

There'as so much, too much going on here. I'm having a 70's-gasim! Thanks for share the OLD Century City!!

[@madred_versustheworld]

I worked at The Hollywood Experience in Century City. It was one of those multi-experience entertainment cinemas with motion seats and other gimmicks to enhance the audience's enjoyment of the show. At times, I seem to remember wearing a lot of hats in my position and the manager was a really great guy who let you take on new responsibilities. Funny, but I do remember that at the end of the show bubble would rain down on the audience and cleaning the seats of all the gooey residue was my least fun job. "Hooray For Hollywood" would play at the beginning and the end of the show and we sold a variety of Hollywood themed merchandise. It was located on the other side of Avenue of The Stars from the Century Plaza Hotel. The TV Networks would hold their sweeps week events at the hotel and I had fun sneaking into the previews and discussions promoting the new Fall shows. Does anyone else remember these events and The Hollywood Experience in Century City?

[@fromthesidelines]

Produced in 1972. The ticket window at 8:33 notes the admission prices and showtime for "The Great Waltz", released that November.

[@amtrakjohn]

Thank you for an interesting look back at CC. I think I see the Duke of Edinburgh/ Prince Phillip at 11:52 or so.

[@outoftheboxwoodworks7560]

As a finish carpenter I have probably worked over 600 days in Century City doing TI work. Basically remodeling tenant spaces. 2000- 2021. Parking is expensive if they didn't validate ($40 day) but the place I liked to park was an open parking lot down the street across from the two diamond buildings shown at 9:04, it cost around $12 per day, that is until around 2016 when somebody purchased the lot to build yet another building. I started work at 5am and split out of there asap in the afternoons around 12:30-1pm, earlier if I could. I been to all the buildings, the underground parking was/is pretty amazing but really warm the lower you go. I didn't know the history until after watching this video but remember hearing of the famous old time celebs who live or have lived in the apartment near by. I always wondered why they would want to live there but I suppose the country club was across the street so perhaps that made them happy. Obama went there quite a few times while he was Presadent, I actually saw him once in person while working in Beverly hills, corner of Wilshire and Rodeo at a hotel... I sure bet Fox Studio regrets selling all that land, what a mistake because the studio is so small and cramped now and all the traffic around the studio could of been avoided if they had just kept it. I blame it on the poor leadership at FOX studio in the 60, particularly Mr Spyros Skouras, who served as the President of 20th Century Fox from 1942-62. IMO He made a grand long term mistake selling that 180 acres... Too bad so sad. I am self employed now and avoid Los Angeles all together, it's been going went down hill since 2010...

[@terrycarter2207]

I love the beautiful buildings. I think that it is wonderful.

[@keithmerscheim1924]

Century city 🛍 shopping center, Bullucks,Clifton cafeteria. Across the street. The Shubert theater, The Playboy Club ah the memories.

[@lbputzer]

Ah yes! At the shopping center there was also The Broadway (still miss it!), Joseph Magnin, and Silverwoods among many others long gone. In the mid-80s, the Magnin space was occupied by "Heaven" the trendy go-to place among young people for those hideous 80s fashions. There is continuum with Macy's/Bloomingdale's acquiring The Broadway & Bullock's. Other than Gelson's, I have no recollection of any other store that is still there from my first visit decades ago.

[@drstrangeluv25]

Thanks for posting!

[@Shawn666Hellion]

Been to century city in the past, very nice area to walk around

[@jeffreyhunt1727]

I came here for the historical content and stayed for the synth soundtrack

[@aviduser1961]

20th Century Fox's backlot rivaled Disneyland.

[@MrSebfrench76]

This weird use of a synthe , makes this movie unforgettable.

[@lbputzer]

Bit of Century City trivia: the similar appearance of the twin office towers and ABC Entertainment plaza to the former World Trade Center in NYC is not imagined. Minoru Yamasaki designed both. He also designed the buildings for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair (now the Seattle Center) and was sort of the Frank Gehry-style darling of avant garde architecture in the early 1960s

[@Naminski1a]

Century City, CA. This is where 20th Century-Fox Studios is located.

[@lincbond442]

I'm not sure if this video is about Century City or about the widespread use of the mini-skirt in 1972. No complaints here, I was 3 at the time and do remember some of the great views from that era.

[@BrandonJXN2]

This is like a very good acid trip.

[@DJAstroBlack]

CC has been dead for years. I worked for Orion Pictures we had an office there. I was glad to transfer to a different location not far away.

[@tula1433]

When I was in Century City in 2012 it was scary. Honestly that’s why I looked this video up. It looked fake like not a real city and had a weird uncozy futuristic vibe that was unsettling. It was nothing but condos and I remember thinking “where do they eat or grocery shop at” !?

[@jimbritttn]

This reminds me of the Beverly Hillbilly episodes where Drysdale bought "Mammont Pictures" so he could tear it down to build "Clampett City"

[@Xorcist-Band]

YEA Mort Garson! lol - Those Synth Moves!

[@xpez9694]

glad they got Boards of Canada to do the music! - EDIT// I watched until the end. And then I loooked up Mort Garson. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mort_Garson He is CANADIAN! He is a pioneering synth composer! He most definitely created the music that inspired the BOARDS OF CANADA...and those guys are from UK!!! Amazing. This music seems kind of dated by todays symths and electronic styles but the producers of this film must have sensed strong feelings of progressiveness and optimism to use this composer to discuss the positive impact of this newly constructed business district. which was a great choice!

[@PrincePurple]

That woman at 6:41 would be a looker in any Century.

[@laurenchristianna2092]

Are we sure it's a woman?

[@whitsundaydreaming]

What a wonderful doc. Now remove that timecode and it will be perfect!

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Here's the issue: Tens of thousands of films similar to this one have been lost forever -- destroyed -- and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. How do we afford to do that? By selling them as stock footage to documentary filmmakers and broadcasters. If we did not have a counter, we could not afford to post films like these online, and no films would be preserved. It's that simple. So we ask you to bear with the watermark and timecodes. In the past we tried many different systems including placing our timer at the bottom corner of our videos. What happened? Unscrupulous KZbin users downloaded our vids, blew them up so the timer was not visible, and re-posted them as their own content! We had to use content control to have the videos removed and shut down these channels. It's hard enough work preserving these films and posting them, without having to spend precious time dealing with policing thievery -- and not what we devoted ourselves to do. Love our channel and want to support what we do? You can help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

[@nlpnt]

It's fascinating to see those solid-looking brick buildings go down with the slightest tap from the bulldozer. I've heard the expression "built like a film set/movie prop" used for something that looks good but is flimsy as hell once you look inside or behind, and in this case it was literally true.

[@bobcastro9386]

8:07 looks like Jim Baccus.

[@boborabona8133]

Built for a city that had half the population it does today, Century City has become another overcrowded place where you don't want to go if you don't have to.

[@roachtoasties]

Not really.

[@billhosko7723]

Bleak, little warmth boxes.

[@DeflatingAtheism]

I laughed. I cried. Better than Koyaanisqatsi.

[@MWHOME]

The soundtrack! WOW. Pure 70's cheese. But it was the thing back then. A good Wiki on the composer, Mort Garson: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mort_Garson

[@corymartino8283]

Thank you! I wondered about the music. I like it for this kind of thing.

[@Shawn666Hellion]

Music sounds similar to the movie The Severed Arm which was filmed in the Reseda area in 1973

[@aitch3]

Where would have this film been shown?

[@tula1433]

😂I was just thinking the same thing! Maybe on some sort of learning channel or something!

[@belogio]

Any other Shakey Graves fans in the comments?

[@narika14]

In the opening theme song to the Mary Tyler Moore show, when she throws her hat up in the air, wasn't that scene filmed here somewhere?

[@MplsTodd]

It was actually at 7th & Nicollet in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, in front of Dayton’s Department Store (the company that also gave us Target Stores).

[@Boxcarphilly]

@@MplsTodd - oh, I thought it was supposed to look like that, but I thought I'd heard that the scene was actually filmed at Century City.

[@thehollywoodfiles]

Ronald and Nancy Reagan at 8:18??

[@jimbritttn]

THIS IS DISGUSTING; THIS HISTORY SHOULD BE SAVED

[@lmanna]

I came to LA in 88. I still live here. Century City is a DEAD City. A monumental urban and architectural monstrosity. Who would want to live in those "luxurious" condos ? Nobody. I pity those who work around there. Those sparse office buildings connects nobody to nobody. The Schubert Theater .. did they show anything at all ? It's now demolished because nobody goes to that place at night. Does anybody go there at all I wonder ? Sidewalks are for the most part EMPTY of people. The only place that has some life is the mall .. now remodeled as Westfield. The rest is urban void. I'll take downtown LA any day over Century Shitty. Even Hollywood beats that monumental nothingness. It shows that not even the smartest architectural minds can create human scale urban spaces.

[@semiramisbonaparte1627]

TRUE...A VERY ODD VIBE THERE...LIKE STUCK IN BETWEEN THE WORLDS OF YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW...ANTICIPATING SOMETHING THAT NEVER COMES...SURREAL

[@taraniso]

For what you would pay for the privilege of living here, there's very little quality of life happening. A mall and a movie theater and a Ralph's supermarket - several blocks away on Olympic. I can't imagine anyone moving here just to be "closer to work." Its very sterile and lifeless in the evening. The only residents you ever see are 95 year old ladies walking tiny, shaking dogs even more fragile than they are. Basically, CC is a retirement community for those who bought into the dream 50 years ago that show business would never evolve and West LA would be "IT."

[@DeflatingAtheism]

@@taraniso Hey, those 95 year old ladies were turning heads in 1972!

[@WSNO]

"Whaaaa whaaa me want flat screen streaming!!!!! Whaaa me want car that drive self so me be lazy!!!! Whaaaa me no like when people different whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

[@tula1433]

Agree. It’s such a weird place. Unsettling even!

[@roachtoasties]

I haven't been by there until recently. It's a bit different than this video and what planners envisioned, but it has evolved, and mostly to the better. I know there are posts here that disagree. Those are just the complainers, and people who have to make a political statement about everything. They don't have a life, which isn't my problem.

[@billhosko7723]

Ur post, is no better than those u just put down.

[@cinnaminson0653]

Not really unique. The Houston Galleria is the same.