The L.A. Alley That’s a Subtle Silent-Film Landmark

With a proposal to rename the space Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley, one of silent Hollywood’s hardest-working locations could finally get its due.

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SILENT FILM STAR BUSTER KEATON crafted movies by letting locations speak to him. Though Keaton is most often remembered for his infamous unflappability—his “Great Stone Face” never registered the chaos around him—what stands out about many of his films now, as they approach their centenary, is Keaton’s great use of space. His approach to screenwriting involved plotting a beginning and an end, without worrying about what happened in-between. He let a site inspire him; gags emerged from the particulars of the place.
Keaton and fellow stars Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd all played with space in ways that make it uniquely rewarding to find, visit, and study their filming locations. That’s why film historian John Bengtson’s project to locate and commemorate the spaces where this silent comedy triumvirate filmed is especially illuminating.

Bengtson’s most incredible discovery—a seemingly nondescript T-shaped alley in the heart of Hollywood—appears in numerous silent films, including three in the National Film Registry, movies preserved by the Library of Congress for their cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance.


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https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/silent-film-alley