Lost San Diego -
Ammex Motion Picture Company

In June of 1887 Warren Kimball built the National City Bank Block at McKinley and Twenty-first Streets. The building had a varied career as a bank, the Ammex Motion Picture Company, a casket factory and finally as a rooming house.

The pencil notes are by one of the studio actors, Henry Stanley, pointing himself out in this cast photo taken October 7, 1913. Ammex filmed mostly Westerns.

Courtesy Coons collection

Gone today is the spectacular brick building whose legacy included housing an early pioneer of the film industry in America. It was demolished sometime in the 1950's and is seen now as a lot used for storage.

Photo by Bruce Coons