I don’t have many trinkets cluttering up my home, but the ones on display are meaningful to me. Pictured above is a treasured souvenir of a simpler time – a projection lens from the screening room of the now defunct film lab, CFI (Consolidated Film Industries). Located at 959 Seward Street, just south of the Kodak building in Hollywood, I spent many a happy pre-dawn hour there reviewing my work before heading to a 7AM call on set or location.
My two best pals from that period in the ’90’s and early 2000’s were Dailies Manager Art Tostado and Dana Ross, who began as a projectionist before moving up to Release Print Timer (and even greater glory at Technicolor, Arri and Fotokem later in his career). Turning west off Seward into the long alley that led to CFI’s parking lot always evoked a feeling of what this town must’ve been like during the old days. If I could have any superpower, it would be the ability to travel back-and-forth through time. But as much as I’d love to settle in as a contract cameraman at one of the studios during the ’30’s and ’40’s, I don’t think that’s going to happen.
A considerable amount of my work flashed behind this lens over the years, yet I often wonder about all the brilliant artists – great and small – whose images reached the screen through the same glass. It’s a shame so many of my colleagues and haunts that were once mainstays of the movie business are gone. On the other hand, it’s nice to have this memento, if only to remind the ghosts of how important they still are to me.
As with so much of LA’s heritage, the beautiful CFI complex has been swept away by the dullest of office buildings. I promise, in twenty years no one will give a damn about having worked at or visited the place. Nor will they be clearing space on a shelf for one of the dump’s meaningless antiquities.
The lens is a Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Cinelux 2\42.5mm 1.67″ MC used for 35mm film.
What a beautiful lens! Truly a piece to treasure.
Think of its history and miles of film it has projected.