Red Studios Hollywood, formerly Desilu Cahuenga Studio and Ren Mar Studios, is a rental studio located at 846 N. Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood, California, on premises that were formerly the home of Desilu Productions. It was first built in 1915 as Metro Pictures Back Lot #3, and has been used for a wide variety of film and television production, and the studio has been known by many different names.
In 1953, after filming the first two seasons of the I Love Lucy TV series at General Service Studios, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were looking for a larger studio. They looked at the lot (known at the time as Motion Picture Center) and signed a ten-year lease on the property. It then became Desilu Studios. About 1956, after Desilu bought and/or leased other studios in Hollywood and Culver City, it was changed to Desilu-Cahuenga Studios to avoid confusion with the other Desilu Studios. Since 1974, Ren-Mar has been an independently owned and operated studio, available for use by producers. It took the Ren-Mar name in 1984.
I Love Lucy (seasons 3-6, 1953–1957), The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957–1960), The Lucy Show (1962-1968), The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966),Make Room for Daddy, Hogan's Heroes, The Andy Griffith Show, The Jack Benny Show, That Girl, Seinfeld, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, NewsRadio, Ally McBeal, and Lizzie McGuire are among the television series that have been filmed entirely or partially at Ren-Mar. In addition, music videos are often filmed at the studio, including those of Madonna, INXS, Michael Jackson, Ozzy Osbourne, Hilary Duff and Britney Spears. The front (Cahuenga Boulevard) gate of Ren-Mar was used to represent the "Maroon Cartoon Studio" for the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). In 1991, the Richard Simmons exercise tape, "Sweatin' to the Oldies 3" was taped at Ren-Mar.