St. Charles Borromeo Church (North Hollywood)

St. Charles Borromeo Church is a Catholic church and elementary school located at Moorpark and Lankershim in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It is one of the oldest parishes in the San Fernando Valley dating back to 1921. It has long been a parish with celebrity members and was the site of funerals for Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, and Robert Urich among other notables

The parish was founded in 1921 with the purchase of an existing Methodist church structure at Weddington and Bakman. The parish was known as Immaculate Conception Church until 1925 when it was renamed Saint Charles Borromeo. Before the parish was established, Catholics in the central San Fernando Valley shared a priest with St. Robert Bellarmine (then known as Holy Trinity). By 1936, the parish had outgrown the space on Weddington, and a parishioner named Goykes donated land on Moorpark. A new church was built on Moorpark in 1937—the structure that is now the parish hall. The church had a seating capacity of 600 and was styled after the San Carlos Mission in Carmel, California.

In 1939, St. Charles Borromeo School opened in four portable bungalows and operated by five Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A new permanent school opened in 1947 in a building with 14 classrooms, a cafeteria, library, music room, and auditorium.

The parish continued to grow in the years after World War II, and in 1957, ground was broken for the current church. The new church opened at Thanksgiving 1959 with a blessing from James Francis Cardinal McIntyre. St. Charles Borromeo served a wide swath of the San Fernando Valley for many years, but with the population growth in the Valley, additional parishes were carved out of the territy previously encompassed by St. Charles Borromeo. Modern parishes that were carved out of St. Charles Borromeo include Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Sun Valley (1937), St. Francis de Sales in Sherman Oaks (1938), St. Finbar in Burbank (1938) and St. Patrick in North Hollywood (1948).

The Rev. Msgr. Harry C. Meade was the pastor at St. Charles Borromeo for more than a quarter century starting in 1936.

The St. Charles Borromeo Choir has enjoyed a long reputation as one of Southern California's finest parish choral groups. Prior to 1949, the choir director was Roger Wagner who later formed the Roger Wagner Chorale. In 1949, Paul Salamunovich became director of the choir. Volunteer singers from Santa Barbara to San Pedro drove to North Hollywood to sing for Salamunovich as part of the St. Charles Choir. The St. Charles Boys Choir under Salamunovich appeared with Dinah Shore on the Chevy Show and The Lucy Show with Lucille Ball in 1965. Later that year, they also formed the Disneyland Boys Choir, with which Salamunovich recorded the It's a Small World album of folk songs still sold at Disney theme parks. Former members of the St. Charles Boys Choir include former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen and former UCLA head football coach, Terry Donahue. Salamunovich also became the leader of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1991 to 2001 and remains their Music Director Emeritus. Most notably, the St. Charles Choir has sung for Pope John Paul II in private audience at the Vatican, for the official Mass of Greeting with the Pope presiding in St. Vibiana's Cathedral in Los Angeles and in St. Peter's Square on the Feasts of St.'s Peter and Paul with the Pope presiding in high Mass. They hold the distinction of being the only American choir to be honored with this invitation. The St. Charles Choir has performed on the soundtracks of the motion pictures, Air Force One, My Best Friend's Wedding, First Knight, Waterworld, The Devil's Advocate, xXx, Flatliners, Grand Canyon and True Confessions, on which he also coached Robert De Niro on the sung responses of the Latin Mass. They have also performed on television including The NBC Doc Severinson Christmas Special. Salamunovich conducted the choir at the 10:00 a.m. Mass for 60 years before retiring in June 2009. He died on April 3, 2014.

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