Sportsmen's Lodge

The Sportsmen's Lodge is a hotel located on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, Los Angeles, California. Operating under various names (including "Hollywood Trout Farms") since the 1880s, the Sportsmen's Lodge is a San Fernando Valley landmark and remains a popular spot for celebrations, dinners and public events. Located in the heart of the Valley's studio district, the Sportsmen's Lodge was a popular gathering spot for cast and crew in old Hollywood, including Clark Gable, Bette Davis, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

The original Sportsmen's Lodge opened in the 1880s before the movie business existed and before Studio City had its name. A history of Studio City published by the Studio City Sun describes the Lodge as an "enduring symbol of lost rural Valley life." The Sun notes that the site has had many owners since the 1880s but was "always a geographic crossroads for travelers because of its proximity to the river, the canyons, and watering holes created by a natural artesian spring." In the days before freeways were built across the Valley, "all traffic passed along Ventura’s two dirt lanes in the sparsely populated Valley, and 'when people were starting to take road trips, this was an oasis at the end of the road.'"

In the first half of the 20th Century, the Sportsmen's Lodge was known for its trout-fishing lake where families came to catch and eat their own dinners, cooked courtesy of the lodge's restaurant. In the 1910s, the Lodge was called "Hollywood Trout Farms" and was described as "a ramshackle collection of huts." The ponds were augmented with man-made lakes in the 1920s, and fish were grown and delivered from as far as Las Vegas and San Luis Obispo. From the late 1930s until the end of World War II, it was known as "Trout Lakes".

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