Hollywood United Methodist Church is a United Methodist church located at the intersection of Franklin Avenue

Franklin Avenue (Los Angeles)

Franklin Avenue is a street in Los Angeles. It is the northernmost street in Hollywood, north of Hollywood Boulevard and south of the Hollywood Hills, and later Los Feliz Boulevard....

 and Highland Avenue in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. Its English Gothic architecture and the giant HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

/AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 Red Ribbon

Red ribbon

The red ribbon, as an awareness ribbon colored red, has several different meanings in different contexts. Foremost, it is the symbol of solidarity of people living with HIV/AIDS.-Awareness symbol:...

 on the bell-tower have made it a prominent landmark in Hollywood. The church's facilities, in addition to housing an active congregation, are used by the private non-religious Oaks School and have been the settings for many movies including Sister Act

Sister Act

Sister Act is a 1992 American comedy film released by Touchstone Pictures. Directed by Emile Ardolino, it features musical arrangements by Marc Shaiman and stars Whoopi Goldberg as a Reno lounge singer who has been put under protective custody in a San Francisco convent and has to pretend to be a...

 and Back to the Future

Back to the Future

Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...

.

History

Construction on the first building, the Recreational Hall, was started in 1927 by a group of congregants who began organizing the new church in 1909. The rest of the structure was completed on March 16th, 1930.

Architecture

The church building was designed by Thomas P. Barber, and based in part on the English Gothic style of Westminster Hall in London. The structure is steel-framed concrete, with the sanctuary roof having an open hammer beam construction.

Use as a movie filming location

Due to its convenient location in the heart of Hollywood and its mixture of Gothic and modern architecture, the church has been used frequently as a filming location for Hollywood movies. The "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance scenes in Back to the Future I and Back to the Future II were filmed in the church's gymnasium. Interior scenes for the movie Sister Act were filmed in the hallways, classrooms, and offices of the church, although the film crew repainted the interior to make it appear much older. Scenes from Anger Management

Anger Management

Anger Management is a 2003 slapstick comedy film starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, directed by Peter Segal and written by David S. Dorfman...

, Big Momma's House

Big Momma's House

Big Momma's House is a 2000 American crime comedy film directed by Raja Gosnell, written by Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer, and starring Martin Lawrence as FBI agent Malcolm Turner. The majority of the film took place in Cartersville, Georgia, but the film was shot on location in California. The...

, Jarhead

Jarhead

Jarhead is a nickname for United States Marines personnel, due to their regulation high and tight haircutJarhead may also refer to:* Jarhead , US Marine Anthony Swofford's 2003 Gulf War memoir...

, and several other movies were filmed on the premises.

The Oaks School

The Oaks School is an independent private K-6 school founded in 1985 which rents space from the church. The school is non-religious and not affiliated with the church, although the school and church communities do work together frequently and share some staff..