Former Paralta Studios / Robert Brunton Studios / United Studios-Historical site

 place with historical importance, interesting place, film/video production studio/facility, historical layer / disappeared object

Built as Paralta Plays, Inc.1917-1918, Brunton 1918-1921. Peralta/Brunton's address was 5451 Marathon, the approximate location of the original Paramount main gate. Address aka 5301-5601 Melrose. Bought in 1921 by M.C. Levee who renamed the lot United Studios. Joseph Schenck bought the lot amd moved his stable of players here from his studio in New York City.

The lot was initially about 23 acres in size and in the United Studios era additional land was purchased on either side giving them a total of approximately 43 acres. FBO was United's western neighbor.

Purchased by Famous Players-Lasky in 1926. Partners were Jesse Lasky (Lasky Feature Play Co), Adolf Zukor (Famous Players in Famous Plays), W.W. Hodkinson (Paramount Pictures Company, Cecil B. DeMille, and Samuel Goldwyn. A couple of years after the merger the name was officially changed to Paramount Pictures.

In mid 1960s Paramount acquired its neighbor, RKO, which had been purchased from Howard Hughes by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.. In the mid 1980, the company purchased what is now the southeast corner, where Western Costumes stood.

The attached photo shows the studio in the middle of the picture, with the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in the background and what is now Raleigh Studios, formerly Clune Studios in the foreground.