Talmadge Street

An apartment building lights up Talmadge Street with turquoise, yellow and salmon.   In the area where Los Feliz gives way to Franklin Hills and Silver Lake, this is just two blocks north of the Prospect Studios, formerly the ABC Television Center and earlier still, Warner Brothers and the Vitagraph Studio.   From silent films in 1915 through the first "talkie," The Jazz Singer, and later The Lawrence Welk Show, American Bandstand, Let's Make A Deal, General Hospital and others, this neighborhood has seen it all.   Norma and Constance Talmadge began with Vitagraph in New York and became huge stars of the silent movie era.   Their name was applied to the steet along the west edge of the studio's lot in Los Angeles, but their films have not been as well preserved.   Constance is known for comedy.   Norma Talmadge is considered by many to be among film's top few truly great dramatic actresses, but degraded by others as "emotional."   Their charm and appeal live on here, signposts to the memories of Valentino, Pickford, Barrymore, Garbo, Laurel & Hardy, Martin & Lewis, The Beatles and many, many more.