Buster Keaton filmed FIVE movies at the former Hollywood Fire/Police Station. Douglas Fairbanks was likely the first major star to film here, and so far as known the only star to film the now lost building from all sides. Teaser – other huge stars filmed here too, check the end of this post. Once situated at 1625-1627-1629 Cahuenga, steps south from the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley, with Buster’s help let’s follow Doug for a time-travel tour around the Keaton-Fairbanks Hollywood Fire Station. Photo Hollywood historian Tommy Dangcil.

ONE: Cultivated from his 1916 comedy Flirting With Fate, Doug’s five-point tour (see annotated route below), begins at the 1627 Cahuenga central entrance to the joint station. The plot – faced with financial and romantic troubles, Doug hires an anonymous assassin to kill him. Doug’s fortunes suddenly reverse, but unaware his faceless killer has found God and repented his evil ways, Doug fears his now cherished life is threatened by every person he meets. Doug filmed many scenes around the 1600 block of Cahuenga, including a quick dash beside the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley stairway. Purchase Doug’s film on DVD at Flicker Alley – A Modern Musketeer. YouTube link HERE.

This 1922 aerial view looking NW marks the five points of Doug’s clockwise tour around the joint fire/police station on Cahuenga. HollywoodPhotographs.com.

The joint station was constructed in 1913. Before starting the tour, consider this rare 1914 view from One of the Bravest, hosted on YouTube by Eye Filmmuseum. Note the 1625 Cahuenga street address. This marks the station’s earliest screen appearance I’ve yet been able to identify.

TWO: Moving clockwise now to the station’s SE corner. Thanks again to the Eye Filmmuseum, this composite view was created from Nr. 631 of their Bits & Pieces YouTube series of short, unidentified film clips. After seeing it posted on YouTube HERE, viewer @kathleens.4324 identified the brief clip as the Sid Smith and Harry McCoy Hallroom Boys comedy Put and Take (1921).

TWO: Looking west at the wide driveway south of the station. You can understand why Buster filmed along this quiet “alley” for three films; a wide space, plenty of room on the empty lot for his crew, with day-long full exposure to the sun, standing just blocks north from his studio at 1025 Lillian Way. Other images show a tennis court stood further west to the left behind those cars. The empty lot was built over by 1923.

Above, scenes from Keaton’s Neighbors (1920) left, and two views from The Goat (1921), filmed along the “alley” south of the station.

THREE: Above left, the same brick wall and gate appear in reverse view in the 1917 Gale Henry comedy The Masked Marvels (posted on YouTube HERE by Joseph Blough). Joseph has posted dozens of rare and wonderful early silent films – please check out his YouTube Channel for more fun discoveries.

THREE: This similar view with Buster appears in Hard Luck (1921).

Next, a closer view reveals the hanging sliding doors of the PIONEER LUMBER CO. once standing along Comso Street one block to the east. The same PIONEER sign and hanging doors appear during Cops (1922) as Buster affixes a boxing glove to an extension towel rack traveling south down Cosmo. Doug filmed many scenes from Flirting With Fate running around this same lumber yard. In 1917 the south end of the Cahuenga block, north of Selma, was still undeveloped, providing an unobstructed view of Cosmo.

THREE: Continuing Doug’s clockwise tour around the station, visual clues from Put and Take and The Masked Marvels clearly show Doug is running through the gated opening leading to the garage and storage yard behind the joint fire/police station. Doug’s view looks south across vacant land toward Selma. The view east, above right, shows that by 1917 the swinging metal gates behind Doug had been removed.

THREE: Remarkably, opposite views of the same brick wall appear on film, looking south with Doug, and looking north with Buster in The Goat. The windows above the wall in Buster’s frame stand far north of the station, and appear again more clearly below.

THREE: Turning the back corner of the joint fire/police station, now looking north, we see the garage and storage yard behind the station, enclosed by a brick wall. The image to the left appears in Soldiers of  Security, a 1926 LA-sponsored political campaign film encouraging voters to approve better pay for their firemen and policemen. Read Hollywood historian Mary Mallory’s post about the film HERE.

FOUR: Doug leaps over the brick wall enclosing the back of the joint fire/police station. Now looking SE at the station’s NW corner, we see the ground floor of the police station had barred windows to secure the prisoners.

FOUR: Looking south down Cahuenga toward the joint fire/police station, the same north-facing windows highlighted. If you click to enlarge you can see people playing tennis beyond the station tower. The three story building in the foreground is the Fremont Hotel Doug also climbs during the film.

FIVE: Completing his circuit running around the station, Doug runs between the NE corner of the station and the neighboring bike repair shop located at 1633 Cahuenga. During Flirting With Fate Doug also climbs up the front three-story fire escape of this building, the Fremont Hotel. HollywoodPhotographs.com.

FIVE: Above left, looking north from The Masked Marvels (YouTube HERE), comedienne Gale Henry appears beside the police station entrance, revealing its 1629 Cahuenga address. The matching wooden siding of Doug’s bike shop appears behind Gale.

FIVE: Above left, this 1926 view from Soldiers of Security (see LA City Archives YouTube clip) also reveals the 1629 address. The police entrance appears too in the 1919 Lyons and Moran comedy Taking Things Easy. Working with the Library of Congress, Michael Aus has made several early Lyon and Moran comedies, including Taking Things Easy, available to grateful fans. Visit his eBay listing where you can purchase such films directly. The sale proceeds benefit the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum.

ONE: completing the loop tour, SURPRISE, Charlie Chaplin filmed Easy Street (1917) at the same central entrance where we began our tour with Doug at the top of this post. If you click to enlarge, you can even make out the words POLICE COMMISSION and FIRE COMMISSION on the right plaque. I didn’t emphasize Charlie here because Easy Street was already the subject of this prior post chaplin-leads-the-gang-to-the-hollywood-police/, explaining how Stan Laurel, Harry Langdon, Harold Lloyd, Lloyd Hamilton, and even Our Gang also filmed at the station. Also, Buster and Doug captured numerous views of the station, while Charlie recorded just this single tight shot. Inset: click to enlarge – this detail from the 1919 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Vol. 10 Page 1051 shows the joint station, its Cahuenga street addresses, the six foot high brick wall surrounding its garage and back storage yard, and the bicycle repair shop and protruding fire escape “F.E.” appearing with Doug above.

Wrapping up, this post focused on Doug’s five-point tour around the station, supported by scenes from Keaton’s Neighbors, Hard Luck, and The Goat, a trio of films explained further in this prior post front-and-back-cameos-100-years-of-a-hollywood-landmark/. Buster also filmed many scenes here from his debut feature comedy Three Ages (1923), both above, including a scene within the station.

Likewise, during The Cameraman (1928) Buster rides a fire engine into the station, providing more cinematic glimpses of the station’s interior. In closing this prior post mary-pickford-and-the-silent-stars-meet-at-one-hollywood-corner/ shows other views from Flirting With Fate.

No matter how rare or obscure, each moment captured on film expands our visual history of the silent film era. We should all be grateful to the Eye Filmmuseum, Joseph Blaugh, and Michael Aus, for preserving and sharing these cinematic puzzle pieces that enable us to walk with Buster and Doug around the Keaton-Fairbanks Hollywood Fire Station. Purchase Flirting With Fate on DVD at Flicker Alley – A Modern Musketeer.

Please check out my latest YouTube video, revealing new visual discoveries about how Buster Keaton made The General.

Below, while the joint fire/police station was demolished long ago, the “alley” driveway where Buster and other comedians filmed remains.