From Charlie Chaplin to ‘We Are The World’, this Hollywood studio has seen it all

If you’re in Hollywood and drive past the Jim Henson Company lot on La Brea, you can’t miss it: a 10-foot-tall Kermit the Frog standing on top of the gate in a too-tight suit and donning a bowler hat, as some character from the silent film era.

It’s a nod to the studio’s storied pre-Muppets past, which also includes TV and music.

Now the studio is about to start a new chapter. Singer John Mayer and director-producer McG are set to purchase the studio after 25 years of ownership by the Henson Company, which is consolidating production at the Burbank facility.

A representative for Mayer told LAist in a statement this week that the couple is “under contract” to purchase the lot.

The news has caused an uproar among those who cherish the studio and its contributions to Hollywood.

“When it came to market, it certainly piqued our interest and potential concerns about the future,” said Adrian Scott Fine, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy.

“It’s loved by a lot of Angelenos,” Fine said. “It’s a place they often look forward to when they drive into La Brea.”

But many passersby may not know how far back the studio’s history goes.

From ‘The Kid’ to ‘Red Scare’

Silent film icon Charlie Chaplin built the studio amid lemon trees in 1917 after deciding he wanted to make his films in sunny LA and become his own boss.

“As he made more and more films, he wanted more and more independence,” says Arnold Lozano of The Chaplin Office in Paris, which represents his estate. “In 1917 he was able to build his own studio. And he maintained a kind of lone wolf status in Hollywood.

Chaplin was so excited about having his own studio that he filmed its construction with plans to make a movie about it. It was never released, but here’s one compilation of the images.

It was in the studio where Chaplin made The Kid, The Great Dictator and Modern Times – films that are imitated to this day.

Chaplin was one of the world’s biggest celebrities and was visited in the studio by the likes of Helen Keller and Winston Churchill, who toured the 80,000-square-foot facility and massive sound stage.

“It really was a magical place,” Lozano said. “He could transform it into an Alaskan city. It could become the trenches of World War I. Or it could become Paris!”

But after more than three decades, Chaplin’s run at La Brea ended. Chaplin was targeted as a communist sympathizer during the Red Scare that swept the US in the 1950s, despite his denials.

Chaplin was on an ocean liner en route to a film premiere in London when he received a telegram saying his return visa had been revoked, Lozano said. Chaplin never returned to the US

“He didn’t want to have to appear before a committee to justify his morals and his politics,” Lozano said.

The big night of pop music

In 1952, Chaplin sold the studio, and over the next decade it passed through a series of owners, including a real estate company, the comedian Red Skelton, and CBS.

The studio is where the network filmed the courtroom drama “Perry Mason.”

In 1966, A&M Records moved in and built recording spaces that were used by artists such as Carole King, the Carpenters and Joni Mitchell, who made several albums there, including 1971’s “Blue.”

It was during the A&M era, in 1985, when the studio was the scene of one of the greatest moments in pop music history. More than 40 of the world’s top music stars came together under one roof for one night to record the charity single ‘We Are the World’.

Bao Nguyen documented that evening for his film “The biggest pop night‘ on Netflix. He said many of the singers were meeting each other for the first time.

“Billy Joel was absolutely blown away when he met Ray Charles,” Nguyen said. “And a lot of people had never met Bob Dylan before.”

Nguyen says the La Brea studio holds a place in his heart — not just because he made his film there, but because of the promise it holds for artists like him.

“What attracted me as an East Coaster who always told myself I would never move to Los Angeles is these kind of relics and artifacts from old Hollywood that draw people in, these artists and dreamers who come to Los Angeles to really pursue their passion to follow. Nguyen said.

What’s next

So many memories on this lot. What awaits us?

Don’t be afraid, you won’t see apartments going up. The property should be protected from this type of redevelopment by the city’s designated Historic-Cultural Monument status.

And while John Mayer is one of the studio’s new stewards, conservationists like Fine of the LA Conservancy are expressing cautious optimism. Mayer records at Henson studios and filmed a video for his song there: “Last train home.”

“There seems to be an affinity and already a connection to this place,” Fine said. “I think that’s always a positive signal for the future.”