The Man Who Lit the World
The Home and Story of Lighting Pioneer Otto K Olesen
Here at Cahuenga Past we talk about the beautiful old homes and who lived where, often uncovering important figures who have been lost to time. This house is one of my absolute favorite houses. It’s utterly beautiful in the morning, when you come up the hill, the cross looming over the top. It’s not a traditional cut and paste Spanish or Mediterranean, this one is considered more Andalusian. Today we’re turning the light on this owner, Otto K Olesen. He was a crucial figure in how the people saw Hollywood (literally). There’s nothing particularly (or remotely) mystical about him, but it’s wild what an impact he had.
Otto moved to America in 1911, married his wife Nanna in 1914, and was working on film sets before becoming a citizen in 1919. He studied engineering in his native Denmark, and in 1922, he managed to obtain two large searchlights from the military, each weighing one ton. After some tinkering, he pointed them towards the sky and a Hollywood tradition was created.
Otto K Olesen’s lighting mesmerized the city of Hollywood. He lit every building that opened in Hollywood: the Taft, the Roosevelt, the Guaranty. “As usual, when something big is doing, we light the way”- read his congratulatory ad, regarding opening of the Paulais building. People showed up to these openings to see his lighting displays, they lost their minds over how he could turn the hills of the Hollywood Bowl blue, or make light dance over a new bank.
Speaking of the Bowl, he handled all of the lighting for the Hollywood Bowl from the beginning, for everything. Of note from an architectural perspective, he lit Lloyd Wright’s set design for “Julius Caesar” and the following summer, lit Frank Lloyd Wright’s set for “Robin Hood.”
When asked about the thrall he had on Hollywood, he affectionately compared people to moths.
He developed the lights that allowed motion pictures to be shot inside a studio, and of course, used his sweeping spotlights to set the template for movie premieres. One of his favorites was the premiere for King of Kings, the opening of his pal Sid Grauman’s Chinese Theater. And that could have been a fine life! Strictly doing event lighting and film work, but no. In 1925 he opened a small store on Hollywood Boulevard that was not only production lighting, but added a retail home appliance section, and guaranteed his electricians could fix anything in a home.
In a genius twist of marketing, the paper ran a story that he had been appointed Deputy Santa Claus, as “he lights the way for the reindeer,” and he lit a Christmas tree on top of the store entrance. It drove customers to the shop and he then helped the surrounding store owners add lit trees and this was how Santa Claus Lane began.
Santa Claus Lane grew, it became star-studded, added a parade, Otto used his generators to blow uncooked corn flakes to make it snow, all great. But that wasn’t the only holiday he loved. He was one of the founders of the Easter Sunrise Service at the Hollywood Bowl, and served as president and chairman of the Sunrise Service committee for over thirty years.
And wow, was he a savvy store owner- he had exclusive rights to radios, refrigerators, anything new and exciting in consumer goods, and his reputation gave weight to his recommendations and customers knew if something did break, he could fix it.
After two years he moved the store to the former Paramount Lasky building at Selma and Vine. He kept the old production rooms as small salerooms, so customers could tell their friends they had listened to a radio in Gloria Swanson’s dressing room.
By 1928, he installed a Citizens Cooking School in his Model Electric Kitchen in the store, further fostering community and making sales.
He designed and built this house for himself and Nanna and their daughter in 1930. Directly across from the Hollywood Bowl, just up the hill from his Hollywood store, and near the Pilgrimage Playhouse (he was in charge of the annual Pilgrimage Play performed there as well).
Through the 30s and 40s, Otto devoted more time to public service. Lions Club, President of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Hollywood Beautification, President of the 233 Club at the Masonic Lodge. His sweeping “Aurora Borealis” effect was being used for every event and the searchlights and generators were his rentals. He lit the USC Coliseum, the opening of the Hoover Dam.
Daughter Eleanor had her wedding reception at the family home, and society pages mentioned the beautiful lush garden and its perfect lighting.
The Dark Side of Public Service
In 1953, Otto sold his company and was planning to retire when his wife Nanna passed away. He sold this home and moved over to a Tudor in Hancock Park.
Four months later, California congressmen and senators all agreed to appoint Otto as acting postmaster general of Los Angeles (the last one had been abruptly dismissed after drunk driving). Otto’s appointment required President Eisenhower signing an executive order to waive the age cap for taking the civil service exam. After performing as acting postmaster general for eighteen months, Otto was sworn in.
Like everything else he had attempted, he succeeded. He increased revenue, efficiency, appeased both the city and the federal government, and made steady improvements.
However, there was one thing he didn’t love. The smut.
Bear with me, as I am by no means fluent in legalese, but here we go. In 1957, six plaintiffs brought a suit stating it was not his decision what was and was not considered lewd and therefore inadmissible for mail. He blocked Sheree North’s scantily clad can-can short films from being sent to her distributors. He stopped a calendar being shipped with nude pictures of Marilyn Monroe. And he stopped One, a political and conservative magazine that happened to address the subject of homosexuality.
Otto was trying to fulfill his duty, and material that was “Obscene, Lewd, Lascivious, and Indecent in Content and Character” was not allowed under the Comstock Laws. He petitioned the federal government for a broader censorship committee. He spoke at community meetings, warning PTAs about how pornography was too easy for their children to access via mail.
If you go by the newspapers, it all just went away. The word homosexual was never mentioned. However, what actually happened was the young attorney who was representing One had written a cover story for them debating censorship and how to avoid it, so he was personally invested. He was undeterred by losing in the lower courts and appealed the case to the Supreme Court, and they ruled in favor of One. Having just ruled in favor of a sexually explicit book seller in the Roth case, they had determined what defined obscenity and a homophiliac magazine wasn’t obscene — “One vs Olesen” was simply a free speech issue. This became a landmark case and was the first to extend free speech protection to LGBTQ+ press.
After nine years of service, Otto retired in 1963, the same weekend as his last Sunrise Service (the second time it rained in 40-some years of the tradition). He was awarded a medal from King Frederick IX of Denmark for improving Danish-American relations. In September, Otto was hospitalized with pneumonia and was in and out of the hospital until he died in January 1964.
His funeral was packed, Charles Toberman was one of his pallbearers, and the eulogy stated, “Otto brought light to the world.” Maybe it’s my affection for this house, or reading just about every newspaper article written about Otto over 40 years, but I don’t think his censorship came from a malicious place, just more of an old way of thinking. It’s mind boggling to think how much Hollywood changed over his career, and how much the movie industry, city of Los Angeles, and gay rights improved because of him.
Bonus photos
Did you miss the story on Marie Russak Hotchener? Great news, it’s right here!
And here are two additional photos of Marie’s work, just because I love it so much:
I’m so happy you’re here, thanks for reading.
All photos by Cahuenga Past, unless otherwise noted. Please note these are all private homes. We do not disturb nor do we discuss current residents.