Douglas Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study - named in the honor of the Academy's first president A key attraction for some visitors will be the 1928 Mission-style building itself, with its tile roof and ornate, picturesque tower. This was formerly the old Beverly Hills Waterworks; take a look at the vintage photos in the lobby to see what the place used to look like when it was just a dilapidated water-treatment plant, and you'll have to admire the recent restoration effort. Situated in a small park, there's even a putting green and a soccer field on the south side of the building. (Since the lobby is named after Bob Hope, perhaps that explains the putting green...) if you have serious research to do about motion pictures, this is the perfect spot. The Academy Film Archive is the finest and most complete film archives in the world. They have also attempted to collect every English language book on the subject of motion pictures. Included are more than 20,000 books, 60,000 screenplays, 12,000 films, 15,000 posters, 1,400 periodicals, 200,000 clippings, plus six million movie stills and photographs on file, all of which are available to researchers and students. The Cecil B. DeMille Reading Room contains biographical files on more than 73,000 filmmakers and 82,000 movies, as well as tens of thousands of Hollywood books and production files. The library also has special collections donated by the estates of such legends as Alfred Hitchcock, Sam Peckinpah, John Huston, Mary Pickford,George Stevens, John Huston, George Cukor, George Roy Hill, Paul Mazursky, William Friedkin, Arthur Hiller, Cary Grant, Steve McQueen, Gregory Peck, Jackie Coogan, James Wong Howe, Sammy Cahn, Edith Head, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. The library does not lend its materials, though, all research must be done at the library. In late 1996, Clark Gable's Oscar (which he won for his performance in the 1934 classic "It Happened One Night"), was auctioned off to the highest bidder, despite attempts by the Academy to prevent the sale. Fortunately, the highest bidder was Steven Spielberg, who paid $607,500 for the statuette, then graciously donated it to the Academy, which is now on permanent public display here.
http://www.oscars.org/library/about 333 S. La Cienega Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA.