When set designer-turned-movie producer John Jasper left his job with Charlie Chaplin in 1919 to form his own movie studio, he sought help from a Texas-born real estate developer with a keen interest in the then largely undeveloped land east of La Brea Avenue known as “Hollywood.” Charles E. Toberman, who launched his land development business a dozen years earlier for $10 in cash, was on his way to becoming a multimillionaire as developer of some of the district’s most famous landmarks. When he died in 1981 at age 101, he was universally known as “Mr. Hollywood.”

Toberman and Jasper (along with a third partner, C.W. Bradford) bought the 15-acre site for their new studio from G. Allan Hancock, who had made his fortune in developing oil fields in the area. Their plans called for the construction of four stages (only three were ultimately built) for the then princely sum of $250,000. They promised the studios would be “the finest and best equipped in the United States.” Spanish-style architecture and extensive landscaping were employed to give the complex an attractive setting.

Toberman, who helped to manage the new studio through its first decade, launched an even bigger venture a few years later when he convinced Sid Grauman to join him in building two large movie palaces in Hollywood, the Egyptian and the Chinese. He also built one of Hollywood’s first supper clubs, The Montmarte Café (where a young Bing Crosby performed) as well as the Roosevelt Hotel, the Max Factor Building, the Hollywood Masonic Temple and the El Capitan Theater.

Toberman may be best remembered as the man who donated the land for the construction of the Hollywood Bowl. He served as president of the Hollywood Bowl Association for more than 30 years.
In Los Angeles Times article, Toberman gave a succinct description of his business philosophy, “Work for everything you want, ask no one for favors and there will be no obligations to anyone.”

Toberman also built Hollywood’s still well preserved Outpost Estates residential neighborhood, where Bela Lugosi and other stars lived in splendid Mission Revival homes. Toberman’s own home there at 1847 Camino Palmero Street is listed in the National Register of Historic Place and was recently used as a location for HBO’s Entourage. A plaque on Hollywood’s First National Bank Building (which Toberman built) reads:

Charles Edward Toberman “Mr. Hollywood”

At this intersection in 1907, CE Toberman looked into the future, liked what he saw, and through dedication to hard work and free enterprise, began to build Hollywood!

Charles Toberman