Woman's Club of Hollywood

About this property

The Women's Club of Hollywood, also known as the Hollywood Club LA, serves as a social and philanthropic organization with close connections to the local film industry. The historic women's club sits on the former campus of the Hollywood School for Girls. Fourteen women founded the club in 1905 with the goal of establishing a library in Hollywood. That library opened in a temporary location in 1906 and then the group received funding from Andrew Carnegie for a permanent building. In 1910, that library became a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library which continues today as the Frank Gehry designed Frances Goldwyn Library. After that initial success, the group's mission became broader as it grew alongside Hollywood. In 1914, they constructed a permanent clubhouse on Hollywood Boulevard, where the Four Ladies of Hollywood are now located. The club helped to found Hollywood Hospital, Hollywood Studio Club, Hollywood Bowl, and Hollywood Union High School. In the 1920s, the group hosted music and educational presentations, including a poetry reading by Vachel Lindsay. During both world wars, the club served as a Red Cross center. By the mid-1940s, the area around their original location became primarily commercial, so the group first sold their Hollywood Concert Hall and then their original clubhouse. They bought a former school campus on La Brea Avenue to construct a new clubhouse, while keeping the original schoolhouse. Completed in 1949, that clubhouse included multiple spaces for meetings and events. The club received regular visits from Hollywood celebrities including Joan Crawford, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Gary Cooper to host luncheons and lectures. As women faced fewer social restrictions in 20th century, the club faced competition for their time. While the WCH counted over 900 members in the 1960s, by the 1970s most members worked outside the home and had less time to volunteer. By the 1990s, the membership consisted mostly of retirees. In the 2010s, a leadership struggle ensued followed by a proposal to replace the clubhouse with a condominium development in the now densely developed La Brea Avenue area. The group considered merging with Hollywood Heritage, and, in 2011, it attempted to file for bankruptcy. During this period, membership continued to dwindle. In recent years, the club increasingly embraces its association with the Golden Age of Hollywood to encourage a revival. This includes hosting a fashion show of movie wardrobes from the Western Costume Company and screening classic films. Beginning in 2024, the venue is cobranded as the "Hollywood Club LA".

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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