Fire Destroys Studio Supply Companies

Hollywood residents awoke early Friday to the sound of sirens from 26 fire companies headed to a blaze that destroyed a building just blocks from the famous tourist district.

It took 140 firefighters nearly two hours to contain the blaze, which began about 5:30 a.m. and sent flames shooting through the roof of the single-story, 1920s-era building in the 1100 block of Highland Avenue. The column of smoke rising from the building was visible for miles.

Three businesses housed in the building sustained losses estimated in the millions of dollars, but no one was hurt.

Rosco Laboratories, a special effects supplier, and Fantasy Lighting, which restores antique lighting fixtures for movie studios, lost their warehouses.

Studio Wardrobe Department, a popular thrift store that sells vintage clothing, lost its inventory to water and smoke damage. Neighbors mourned the loss of what many considered a treasure trove of used clothing.

“This is the last of the great thrift stores,” said Kristie White. “It wasn’t all picked over like all the Melrose stores.”

Claire Lawrence-Slater, a Hollywood resident, spun around and showed off a 1970s brown polka-dot dress with a butterfly collar she had bought Thursday. “Two dollars,” she said.

Firefighters entered the building and attacked the fire head-on but were pushed back. Synthetic paints and other materials in the warehouse gave the fire a particularly high intensity, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

After about 20 minutes, firefighters spotted a crack forming in the concrete walls and had to pull back, fighting the blaze from outside, Humphrey said. Soon after, the building’s roof caved in.

The fire’s cause was still being investigated late Friday.