In Old California (1910 film) Hollywood. In Old California (1910 film) In Old California is a silent movie filmed in 1910. It was the first movie shot in Hollywood, California. It was directed by D. W. Griffith of the Biograph Company (then based in New York, New York). The film is a melodrama about the Mexican era of California. Director D.W. Griffith discovered the little village of Hollywood on his trips to California and decided to shoot there because of the beautiful scenery and friendly people. On May 6, 2004 a monument was erected at 1713 Vine Street, just north of Hollywood Boulevard. The monument
D. W. Griffith of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and among the most important figures in the history of film. He popularized the use of the close-up shot. Griffith was born on a farm in Oldham County, Kentucky, the son of Mary Perkins ("née" Oglesby) and Jacob Wark "Roaring Jake" Griffith a Confederate Army colonel in the American Civil War who was elected as a Kentucky state legislator. Griffith was raised a Methodist, and he attended a one-room schoolhouse where he was taught by his older sister Mattie. His father died when he was ten, and the