In 2015, intense method actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto became the proud new owner of Lookout Mountain Air Force Station, a 100,000 square foot installation built in 1941 as a World War II air defense center intended to coordinate radar installations in the Los Angeles area. Yes, for a cool $5 million, you too could dream of owning a facility once used by the United States Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission.
While Lookout Mountain may have been built for West Coast radar coordination, it was ultimately put to work in a mission much more suited to the Hollywood Hills: film production. With the development of nuclear weapons, the D.O.D. had a need to document and study nuclear testing with still and moving pictures to understand the behavior of the explosions. The U.S. began filming nuclear tests during Operation Crossroads — and they did it with the help of the best in the biz.
For 22 years, Lookout Mountain produced millions of feet of classified film and thousands of still photos. The Lookout Mountain Air Force Station film studio was comparably equipped to major film studios nearby, including a full stage, two screening rooms, 16mm and 35mm motion picture film processing capabilities, optical printing capabilities, a still photography lab, animation and editorial departments, film vaults, and of course a bomb shelter and helicopter pad.
Jared Leto just became part of my zombie apocalypse survival plan.
The Air Force’s 1352nd Photographic Group was based at Lookout Mountain and then stationed at Mercury, the base camp for the Nevada Test Site to capture CONUS nuclear testing images. Alongside the U.S. Army Signal Corps, photographers from the 1352nd began experimenting with different methods of capturing atmospheric nuclear tests, bringing cameras as close as four miles to the detonations, but with some protection from special bunkers. Photographers also took to the skies to film aerial deliveries and detonations.
It isn’t unusual for film and photography to be part of the military mission-set — that’s how we get our official D.O.D. images of troops on the job. So it makes sense that it was an actual assignment to cover nuclear testing. I just hope everyone filed their disability through the V.A. after coming home from deployments.
Hollywood and Air Force history — I love it when my worlds combine.
Lookout Mountain changed hands over the years, from the Strategic Air Command to the Air Proving Ground to multiple Motion Picture Squadrons and Groups with the mission of “…providing in-service production of classified motion pictures and still photographs for the Department of the Air Force in support of the Atomic Energy program and to provide such additional production of motion picture and still photography as directed by the Commanding General, Air Pictorial Service.”
Eventually Lookout Mountain also began creating unclassified film clips for various purposes, including documenting combat operations in Vietnam, monthly Air Force Newsreel content, and training films. With its close proximity to Sunset Boulevard, Lookout Mountain was able to hire celebrity actors and voice-over narrators for their projects, including Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart, and Gregory Peck.
By the 1970s, the facility was decommissioned and sold at auction for $50,000. It has been owned privately since — now with the addition of at least one swimming pool. Actor Jared Leto is the latest owner of the property, which now boasts eight bedrooms, twelve bathrooms, several kitchens and living areas, a theater space, art galleries, and a soundstage.
Oh, and a guillotine? Why not!