Fire Station No. 23 (Los Angeles, California) facts for kids
|
Fire Station No. 23
|
|
Fire Station No. 23, 2008
|
|
 Location in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Location in California
Location in the United States
|
|
| Location | 225 E. 5th St., Los Angeles, California |
|---|---|
| Built | 1910 |
| Architect | Hudson & Munsell, F.O. Engstrum Co. |
| NRHP reference No. | 80000809 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
|
| Added to NRHP | June 9, 1980 |
Fire Station No. 23 is a former fire station in Downtown Los Angeles. Built in 1910 as an operating fire station, it was also the Los Angeles Fire Department's headquarters until 1920 and the residence of every fire chief from 1910-1928. When it opened, it spawned a political firestorm due to the ornate interior and expensive imported materials, leading to its being called the "Taj Mahal" of firehouses. After 50 years of operation, the station was closed in 1960 as the department began replacing older stations with new facilities. Since the 1980s, Fire Station No. 23 has been a popular filming location. Motion pictures filmed at the station include the Ghostbusters movies, The Mask, Police Academy 2, Flatliners, Firehouse and National Security.
History
Operation
Fire Station No. 23 remained an active firehouse from 1910-1960. When it opened, it was manned by fifteen firefighters and ten horses. The original equipment included a horse wagon, chief's buggy, and a pumper that used a vertical tube boiler. The company's first major call was a fire in the old Byrne Building that took ten hours to extinguish.
The station also served as the department's headquarters from 1910–1920, and the home for every fire chief from 1910 to 1928, including chief Ralph J. Scott. Chief Scott's wife, Addie Scott, lived with him on the third floor and later recalled the station's early days: "I remember the horses. They really knew what to do. When the bell would ring, they would come out and stand there to be hitched up. ... It was a nice life here for us. ... I remember trying to wax all these floors, and I just couldn't do it. So someone came and helped me. This is a lot of floor space you know."
Fire Station No. 23 was closed in November 1960 as the Los Angeles Fire Department began replacing older stations with newer stations with modern facilities. At the time of its closure, some of the 1,100 men who had worked there attended a ceremony as the building was "mustered out of service."
Museum
Historic status
In 1966, the station was declared a Historic Cultural Monument by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission; at the time of the declaration the Los Angeles Times called it the "Taj Mahal of fire stations." A Library of Congress survey of 250 firehouses concluded that Station 23's interior was "unmatched in its beauty." It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Filming location
Since 1978 when James Croak occupied the building after an 18-year vacancy, Fire Station No. 23 became a popular filming location for motion pictures, television productions, commercials, and music videos. In 1995, the Los Angeles Times wrote: "With its finely restored interior and turn-of-the-century architecture, old Fire Station 23 in Downtown Los Angeles is one of the choicest filming locations in town." One producer called it "a great raw architectural space that you can do a lot with."
The first major motion picture filmed at Station 23 was Hammett (1982) by German director Wim Wenders, followed two years later by Ghostbusters. The station was used in the 1984 production as the location for the interior scenes of the headquarters of Drs. Venkman, Stantz and Spengler and Winston Zeddemore, as well as their secretary Janine Melnitz. Another station in New York, the Hook & Ladder Company 8 firehouse, was used for the exterior shots. The success of Ghostbusters helped popularize the station as a shooting location, and Fire Station No. 23 has since then been used in more than 50 productions, including Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Ghostbusters II (1989), The Mask (1994), Police Academy 2 (1985), A-Team (1986) and V.I. Warshawski (1991), Flatliners (1990), Lost Highway (1997), National Security (2003), and RE(e)volution (2005).
