The Lost History of a Classic Hollywood Sorority

Marilyn Monroe, Rita Moreno, and Ayn Rand were all members. It was known in the press as both a “Haven for Hopefuls” and a “Boarding House of Broken Hearts.” But the nearly forgotten history of the Hollywood Studio Club, built to house aspiring actresses in the early days of the movie industry, reveals how little has changed in the nearly 100 years since the club was first established—and how powerful female friendships can be. As Cari Beauchamp writes, women “flocked west because the movies made the movies look pretty darn good”—and the Studio Club was the one place they could be protected from the much grittier reality.
Elsewhere in HWD, K. Austin Collins reviews the Senegalese ghost story Atlantics, now streaming on Netflix, and also makes the case for Adam Sandler as an Oscar hopeful in Uncut Gems; also, Laura Bradley finds an unlikely late-night shining star in Bong Joon-ho, who made his first appearance on The Tonight Show last night.