Once upon a time, before Hollywood was the film capital of the world, Santa Barbara was home to one of the largest and most important film studios of the day. In fact, with better luck and more foresight, Santa Barbara could have become Hollywood. In the infancy of motion pictures, between the years of 1912 to 1920, Flying A Studios occupied two full blocks in downtown Santa Barbara. The dazzling studio was the largest, best equipped and most artistic studio in the country. It boasted top directors, actors and cameramen, including actresses Mary Pickford and Mary Miles Minter, and director Victor Fleming, who later directed "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz". Flying A Studios films include "The Perils of Pauline", the Bronco Billy westerns, and "Purity", a film with the first nude scene in cinematic history. By 1916, the Flying A Studio was grinding out 242 movies a year.
Early film makers began flocking to the west coast to escape the constraints of the "Edison Trust" or the Motion Picture Patents Company which was operating in New York and Chicago. California was the choice of many movie makers because of its near perfect climate and abundant sunshine. Santa Barbara, in particular, offered a cornucopia of backdrops: Ranch, mountain, coastal, as well as urban streets and extravagant estates.
As you can imagine, this burgeoning film industry was
a powerful factor in Santa Barbara's growth, both economically and culturally. At the time, the population of Santa Barbara numbered only about 15,000 people. The Flying A's $19,000 weekly payroll pumped money into the local economy and employed many of the locals. The film people descended on quaint little Santa Barbara and became local celebrities, spending their money lavishly on State Street and throwing large parties in their mansions.
Sadly, or maybe not, depending on your point of view, it was all over by 1920. A lack of vision on the part of the Flying A, combined with a worsening financial climate, sealed the Flying A's doom. Although the Flying A's films were still highly regarded artistically, they had not invested in movie theatres, as other film studios had, and had no outlet for their product. Today, only one small building remains of the once powerful film studio.
With it's relative proximity to L.A., Santa Barbara has become a peaceful getaway for Hollywood celebrities, and home to many of them, but how different our beautiful little city would have been, had the film industry been centered here. It's an interesting part of Santa Barbara's history but I, for one, am happy we didn't become Hollywood~
