Sunday, May 31, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
California glows on- and off-screen as our warm home and the dreamy backdrop to countless Hollywood and independent films from the 20th century. The Archive is honored to house and restore hundreds of productions set in California, including UCLA student work, news programs and home movies. This program features short films and excerpts filmed by and about Californians around the Golden State from the 1920s to the 1990s.*—Nicole Ucedo* Take a trip through Hollywood in this travelogue from the latter half of the 1920s. Documenting architectural relics, some still standing, some gone, the footage guides us through Los Angeles history at the height of the studio system. Featuring the Carthay Circle Theatre, Mary Helen Tea Room, Hollywood Storage Company Building and other historic sites. DCP. *Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 16mm print in The Packard Humanities Institute Collection at the Archive. Laboratory services by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Special thanks to The Packard Humanities Institute.* The “Switzerland of California,” as the film phrases it, Clear Lake and its surrounding parks and towns were the ideal vacation location for the San Franciscan family of the 1950s. In this travelogue we cruise through Northern California’s redwoods, lakes and clear skies. The magical allure of California is captured in these images, many of the natural phenomena still existing today. **Production:** Richard P. Young Studios. *Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 35mm nitrate print. Laboratory services by Film Technology Company, Inc.* The Lauretta Edlund Home Movies collection was donated to the UCLA Film & Television Archive by Lauretta Edlund. Her aunt, the 1930s socialite Sylvia Ashley, was married five times, one of them to Douglas Fairbanks Sr. The home footage was taken during their married years. Compiled out of chronological order, the 16mm film documents the couple lounging poolside with friends at their Pacific Coast Highway home as well as some travel footage. A brief scene shows Fairbanks walking on a hillside within the Edmund Goulding estate in Palm Springs. Guests to the Fairbanks home included Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, Fay Wray and many others. DCP. **Director:** Sylvia Ashley and friends. *Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 16mm original picture reversal. Laboratory services by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Special thanks to Lauretta Edlund and Kerry Edlund Morris.* Hearst Corporation founder William Randolph Hearst’s palatial castle in San Simeon opens up to tourism after his passing. DCP. A small town near Death Valley, dedicated to the research and production of rockets, gets its news camera close-up. DCP. This segment of *Popular Science* shows campus life at UCLA in 1947 as students lounge outdoors while studying an early computer design. Two decades later on this same campus, another group of students and faculty would launch the first messages sent via the internet. DCP. **Production:** Paramount Pictures. **Writer:** George Brandt. *Digitally restored by The Packard Humanities Institute from an original nitrate 35mm print at the PHI Stoa Film Lab.* *Ifé* is an ode to the city of San Francisco in the 1990s as well as to the women in the narrator, Ifé’s, life. Ifé cruises around San Francisco in her car, admiring the city, her new home. Through a relaxed, diaristic monologue,* Ifé *pays tribute to the freedom and joy the city offered for queer life in the ’90s. DCP. **Distribution:** Frameline. **Director/Screenwriter:** H. Len Keller. **With:** Celine Allouchery, Nsomeka Gomes. *Restoration funding provided by Rachael Reiley and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in collaboration with Frameline from the 16mm original A/B negatives and a 16mm magnetic track. Laboratory services by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Endpoint Audio Labs. Special thanks to Bay Area Lesbian Archive, Jenni Olson. * *In the Life* interviewed the most important voices of the LGBTQ+ rights movement from 1992 to 2012. In this excerpt from the finale of the 10th season, we hear from community members in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. The late community unifier Jewel Thais-Williams and her partner, Rue, started the queer nightclub Jewel’s Catch One, a space for gathering and dancing for the Black LGBTQ+ community. Jewel and Rue also opened Rue’s House, a safe haven for women and children living with HIV/AIDS. DCP. American Public Television/PBS. **Production:** In the Life Media Inc. **Executive Producer: **Andrea Swift. **Producer:** Janet Baus. **Directors:** Morgan Gwenwald, Andrea Swift. **Writer:** Michael Pollock. **With:** Mark Christopher, Jewel Thais-Williams, Rue Thais-Williams. *Digital restoration funding provided by The Arcus Foundation, the Pride Foundation, Henry van Ameringen and the producers and board of In the Life.* Pat Rocco (1934–2018) was a beloved gay activist and filmmaker who brought together the LGBTQ+ community in Los Angeles. Starting out filming erotic films, Rocco went on to film countless protests, marches and pivotal moments in the California LGBTQ+ rights movement. The social club SPREE (Society of Pat Rocco Enlightened Enthusiasts) was started by friends of Rocco who worked with him on theatrical productions. In this footage, Rocco and SPREE coordinate a bus pickup in Los Angeles for a dozen or so friends and acquaintances to get out of town. Together they enjoy the sunny poolside in Palm Springs and venture to the snow in Idyllwild. Meeting monthly, SPREE offered the Los Angeles gay community a reprieve from the city and a connection to California nature. *Note: This footage contains nudity.* DCP. **Director:** Pat Rocco. *Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 16mm original reversal positive. Laboratory services by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.* Pat Rocco documents another special corner of Los Angeles, Joani’s nightclub in North Hollywood. This particular evening, guests are gathering for a Halloween costume party — but not just any party. Replete with drag performances, dancing and plenty of glitter, the San Fernando Valley lights up in this piece of 1970s queer California nightlife. DCP. **Director/Producer/Cinematographer/With:** Pat Rocco. *Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 16mm original picture reversal and 16mm magnetic track. Laboratory services by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.*