Eclectic NY-Style 1920s Loft/Photo Studio Near Arts District

This beautiful, brick-and-wood studio was Bruce Dern’s ‘New York apartment’ in the 2018 film Nostalgia. Since then it has been a photo studio specializing in the 19th-century wet plate process, but it began its life in 1921 and has served as a factory producing gas meters (memorialized by the ghost sign on the exterior!), a chili pepper plant and an architect’s drafting room. Just over the 1st Street bridge from the Arts District on the Boyle Heights side of the L.A. River, it offers 10 1/2-foot high ceilings, an arched window-lined wall for natural light, lots of wood, and eclectic decor in its six hundred square feet of open-plan space. There is an adjoining office with period features offering another 140 square feet. The studio space contains two alt-process darkrooms as well as antique cameras and associated photography equipment and lighting. Large original paintings by Bay Area artist Bruce McGaw bookend the room. There is copious free parking available until 6PM near the railroad tracks a short block (or about a 30-second walk) behind the building, as well as a base camp just next door which, while unaffiliated, can (if available) be booked separately if needed (which it was during the production of Nostalgia, for example). The space has been used for music videos, commercials and magazine photo shoots in addition to a variety of films.