How many times have you driven by the Pickford Center on Vine and wondered what goes on inside that prestigious looking building?
Just up the street from Hancock Park, the home of the Mary Pickford Center of the Academy of Motion Pictures includes a giant film vault that securely preserves the history of film in a climate-controlled environment. It also includes a new theater, a library, motion picture artifacts, and film restoration facilities. Today, September 11th,  the Academy is giving tours to celebrate its 10th anniversary in the location that once served as a television studio, and prior to that a Cadillac showroom. It’s a rare opportunity to get Inside the Vaults.
Tickets for the tours, which will take place between 6-7:30 pm are sold out, but the Academy expects a “stand-by” line to start forming at 5:30 pm. Perhaps some of us who haven’t planned ahead will still be able to get inside. After the tour, participants will be able to see the Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckler “The Mark of Zorro” in the Linwood Dunn Theater along with a print of the 1912 Mary Pickford short “The New York Hat.”
If you can’t get there, a story in Monday’s Los Angeles Times will give you a bit of a look inside:
LA Times: Academy Offers Tours “Inside the Vaults”
