Opening day of at Universal Studios Hollywood March 15, 1915.(Universal Handout Photo)

Universal City celebrated its grand opening on March 15, 1915. Something like 20,000 members of the public responded to studio head Carl Laemmle’s invitation to visit his new studio at the north end of Cahuenga Pass that day to check out the fancy administration building, open air stages and bleachers on which, until the advent of sound filmmaking a decade later, they were welcome to come back and watch real movies getting made.

Over the ensuing century, the former 230-acre Taylor Ranch property grew both physically and imaginatively into as much of a pop culture landmark as “Frankenstein,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Jaws,” “Fifty Shades of Grey” or any other Universal production.

Universal Studios Hollywood, the visitor tour reestablished in 1964, has evolved into a Southland theme park destination competitive with Disneyland. The Black Tower office building, also erected in ’64, instantly became a monument to San Fernando Valley progress, as did the later, taller high-rise that is now the NBCUniversal building. CityWalk brought the concept of a purpose-built entertainment and shopping complex to Southern California in 1993.

The DNA for all of it goes back to that opening day.

“It was the first city dedicated to motion pictures, and Carl Laemmle marketed it as the entertainment capital of the world, the self-sustaining, moviemaking capital,” explained Jeff Pirtle, director of Archives & Collections for Universal Studios Operations. “That’s what it was; we had a hospital, a fire department and a police department, and residents who all worked for the studio.”

Never officially a municipality and built on unincorporated county land free from Los Angeles city regulations and taxes (sections of the current 400-plus-acre property do spill into L.A. city limits), the 1915 Universal City spread south from Lankershim Boulevard across today’s main studio complex and backlot. Universal purchased the property in 1914, when it was still using a nearby movie ranch on what became the Forest Lawn Cemetery site.

Beside showing off the facilities on opening day, Laemmle staged cowboy stunts and had engineers create a fake flood, which actually swamped a few vehicles. He probably figured he could get away with such risky antics outside of L.A.’s jurisdiction. But he got arrested anyway.

“An actress, Laura Oakley, who was actually elected by the employees, was Universal City’s first police chief,” Pirtle noted. “Kind of as a gag, on opening day she arrested Carl Laemmle because he left the golden key in the lock.”

Universal City thrived from the start. Although the Valley had been used for Westerns and other outdoor filming for some time, competitors south of the hills called placing a studio in that far, agricultural hinterland “Laemmle’s Folly.” But UC helped brand the company in moviegoers’ minds like no other and has been crucial to Universal remaining America’s longest continually operating major studio.

Eventually, other big movie operations followed Laemmle north. First National built the eventual Warner Bros. Burbank complex in 1926. Comedy king Mack Sennett opened what is now Studio City’s CBS Radford lot in 1928. And Walt Disney — who made Oswald Rabbit cartoons for Universal before coming up with Mickey Mouse — established his Burbank headquarters in 1940.

“Having all of the different studios in the Valley put us on the map,” said Museum of the San Fernando Valley President Scott Sterling. “It kind of showed the sexiness of the Valley. In a way, one thinks of the Valley as just a suburb. But really, the history out here is very unique, and it’s unique from the standpoint of the entertainment business.”

Development magnet

Universal City’s existence influenced the residential and commercial development of nearby North Hollywood, Studio City and Toluca Lake that took off in the 1920s.

“It’s had a major impact as one of the largest employers in the Valley from, like, even the beginning,” noted Mary Mallory, a historian and vice chair/secretary of the Studio City Neighborhood Council’s Cultural Affairs Committee. “Real estate-wise, too, being on that location for such a long time was a wonderful thing. All of these (housing) tracts made it easy to get to work.”

The societal impact of all the artists and technicians Universal and its followers brought to the area has been immense as well.

“Think of the generosity of the people who work in the entertainment industry,” said the SFV Museum’s past president Gerald Fecht. “They have built our charities, our churches and synagogues in the Valley; they’ve contributed to our literacy and culture. And Universal is one of those beacons.”

A number of those folks were likely named Laemmle. Uncle Carl, as he was called, often returned to his native Germany and other parts of Europe to find talented relatives and others to work at Universal. William Wyler, who went on to win three directing Academy Awards, was a distant relative Laemmle imported and hired. Though no relation, Irving Thalberg, who became the industry’s most legendary producer, was another Laemmle discovery.

And he (in)famously put his son, Carl Jr., in charge of production as a kind of 21st birthday present. Junior oversaw what was to become the studio’s most beloved legacy, the early sound “Dracula,” “Frankenstein” and other monster movies of the 1930s. But it was also under Junior’s reign that the family lost Universal, to a loan company that they couldn’t satisfy after the elaborate 1936 “Show Boat” production cost too much.

That turn of events, however, enabled the senior Carl Laemmle to focus the last three years of his life on helping refugees from Nazi Germany come to America. Hundreds of Jews were saved from the Holocaust due to Laemmle’s sponsorship.

Teen star Deanna Durbin and the comedy team Abbott and Costello kept Universal going through the pre-war and postwar years. Ownership of the company and its accompanying city has changed multiple times since; Decca Records added a whole musical element to the operation in the 1950s.

The talent agency MCA, which completed its purchase in 1962, stands out as the owner that turned much of Universal City into what it is today, restarted the tour and plunged the studio deep into television production.

It was also MCA that signed a movie-mad kid from Cal State, Long Beach as the youngest director ever contracted by a major movie studio. Steven Spielberg went on to helm “Jaws,” the movie that established Hollywood’s still-dominant blockbuster business model in 1975. Spielberg also directed the even more successful “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park,” the Oscar-winning “Schindler’s List” and many more, as well as producing hit franchises such as “Back to the Future,” all for Universal.

Though he’s long worked all over town, Spielberg’s office remains in Universal City.

Now owned by Comcast, the property continues to grow, with major new elements of Universal City Hollywood and its support areas well underway. The studio’s influence can still be felt in nearby communities, not entirely happily but arguably worth the trouble.

“I really love the Valley, but I get really pissed off in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I get annoyed when I can’t get a parking space,” Fecht admitted. “Too much pollution, you can make a list of things that are wrong. But look at how enriched we are by having places like Universal City, how many of our families have someone employed in entertainment and how it’s contributed so positively to the arts.”

Fecht added that Universal City has been in the local impact business from the start, and Mallory pointed out that Universal City seeks local approval for its expansion plans.

“Universal tries to work with Toluca Lake and North Hollywood on the traffic,” she said. “But all the things that will go in will be a good thing for the job situation, the way the economy’s been going for the last few years.”

Or, for that matter, for the last 100 years.

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