May 4 is International Firefighters Day. The US doesn’t recognize it, but I’m gonna. 

Once the largest fire station west of the Mississippi, Old Fire Station No. 27 protected the residents and film studios of Hollywood for six decades. Now it preserves LAFD history as a firefighters museum.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 24, 1985

I never thought that I would have a reason to thank Amoeba Records for ditching its original location on Sunset and Cahuenga. That place was my second home for about a decade after college, and probably the third-most prolific pilferer of my income, behind my landlord and the IRS. But I’m grateful to Amoeba for moving a couple blocks northwest, because now I’ve got no more excuses to keep passing by the Los Angeles Fire Department Museum, housed in the historic Old Fire Station No. 27.

Designed by civic architect Peter K. Schabarum, the Italian renaissance revival building at the corner of Cahuenga and DeLongpre was built for LA’s oldest contingent of motorized firefighters, Engine Co. 27, based in Hollywood. It was also homebase for Hose Co. No. 2, Truck Co. No. 9, Rescue Co. No. 2 and Salvage Co. No. 4. While Fire Station No. 27 wasn’t the first home for Hollywood’s firefighters (check these pictures of the smaller buildings that Engine Co. 27 leased in the 1910s and ‘20s), it was intended to be their permanent home, and a flagship fire station for LA.

When the men of Engine Co. 27 officially moved in, on June 30, 1930, the building wasn’t even complete yet. The firefighters had to help finish it off and pave the driveway during their downtime. But it made its mark as the largest fire station west of the Mississippi, with some 28 on-duty firefighters and 12 pieces of firefighting apparatus. 

In 1930 Hollywood was undergoing rapid change. Since its annexation by LA in 1910, the population had skyrocketed along with the film industry, and old single-family homes were being replaced with apartment buildings, hotels and other multi-family residences. Old Fire Station No. 27 served the residents and the movie industry alike, quite literally from day one. On the first day after they moved in, Engine Co. No. 27 had to put out a fire in one of the units of a hotel on Hollywood Blvd., caused by a lit cigarette. 

Hollywood’s civic leaders lobbied for the location on Cahuenga because, at least at the time, it wasn’t a major commercial thoroughfare. But that hasn’t prevented the movie industry from keeping this station in the spotlight over the years. The Three Stooges filmed here, as did Buster Keaton. There’s a great story about the 1937 movie She Loved a Fireman, shot on location at Fire Station 27. During one scene, an actual brush fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills, and the firemen had to leave the set and hold up filming for an hour. 

+Watch the trailer for She Loves a Fireman

For about 60 years, generations of firefighters slid down the poles of Old Fire Station No. 27. The building sustained damage in the ‘94 Northridge earthquake, and eventually Engine Co. 27 moved into a new station next door, which they operate out of today. But the old building is now fully restored to its 1930s glory, and it still retains its connection to LA firefighting history as a museum run by the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society. 

Visit the museum on a Saturday (it’s free) and you’ll see firefighting vehicles and antique equipment dating back to the 1880s. You’ll see helmets and outfits from around the world, old logbooks and photos, and sections dedicated to the firefighters who lost their lives in 9/11. There’s a play area for kids, and a learning center for groups of students to learn about fire safety. There’s a whole exhibit of Smokey the Bear memorabilia, and outside, a moving memorial to all of the LA firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty. 

The highlight of my visit was hearing stories from the firemen who donate their time as docents. The guy who took us around told me what it was like working in the LAFD during the Watts Riots in ‘65, and recounted the horror of watching things unfold in New York on 9/11, knowing full well that a lot of firemen would die that day. There’s much to learn from this museum, and from the retired firemen that still go there to share their stories every weekend.   

Recommended Reading

+Engine Co. No. 27’s NRHP nomination form

+Fire Station 27 Photo Gallery (Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Archive)

+Hollywood Museum (LADFMuseum.org)

+LAFD Museums (lafd.org)

+Fire Museum Tells of Valor, History (LA Times, 2003)