Inceville’s Native Americans and Hollywood Legacy

A group of Native Americans lived and worked alongside filmmaker Thomas Ince when they moved to Santa Inez Canyon and Pacific Coast Highway. Photo courtesy of Marc Wanamaker Bison Archives

Archivist Marc Wanamaker and Pacific Palisades Historical Society President Eric Dugdale team up for a special presentation about this under-explored aspect of early Hollywood history in a program on Tuesday, February 26, that will feature a number of rarely seen images from Wanamaker’s legendary Bison Archives.

A decade before the founding of Pacific Palisades, there was Inceville, a tiny film colony by the sea. Living and working there alongside filmmaker Thomas Ince was a group of Native Americans, who headlined the Miller Brothers’ 101 Wild West Show at the Venice piers. They then moved north to Ince’s studio-ranch in Santa Ynez Canyon to help pioneer modern cinema. Ince responded in kind, building a school for their children and encouraging them as actors and directors.

The free event takes place Tuesday, February 26, 7 to 9 pm., at Pierson Playhouse, Theater Palisades, 941 Temescal Canyon Road, Pacific Palisades CA  90272. No RSVP is required. Refreshments follow the program. Parking is in theater lot or on nearby streets.

For more information: pacificpalisadeshistory.org.

Inceville, 1914, was a tiny film colony that helped pioneer modern cinema. Photo courtesy of Marc Wanamaker Bison Archives
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