Visiting Tommy Dangcil

Tommy Dangcil/Hope Anderson Productions

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow historian of Hollywood, Tommy Dangcil. He has published several books on his superb collection of old Los Angeles postcards, some of which I’ve used (with attribution, if not permission) in Under the Hollywood Sign. Tommy discovered my blog, liked it and recently emailed me about getting together.

His vast collection includes many well-known images and many more I had never seen before. Series of postcards depict the long-gone Hollywood mansions of Silent and Early Talkie movie stars, Hollywood streets (including such fascinating subsets as Hollywood Boulevard at Christmastime and the defunct Hollywood Flower Parade), the Krotona Colony and Hollywood churches. His knowledge of Hollywood history is encyclopedic, encompassing not only the development of the movie industry but the lives of its denizens over the past century. Dangcil, who was born and raised in Hollywood and attended Hollywood High, says he first became interested in Hollywood history by watching old movies on television. After graduating from college, he became a lighting technician and has spent over twenty years making movies including, “The Master,” “The Bourne Legacy” and “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Another book is in the works; in the meantime, Tommy has graciously allowed me to reproduce some of his images in my blog. As the first rule of historical documentaries is no words without pictures, I’m grateful in advance for these artifacts of Old Hollywood.

Books by Tommy Dangcil:

Hollywood 1900-1950 in Vintage Postcards, Arcadia, 2002

Hollywood Studios, Arcadia, 2007

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