A Hollywood Journey

10. The Max Factor Building

Hollywood, CA

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A wig-maker turned barber, Max Factor became a global "cosmetics king" and changed the way women, and some men, looked forever. He spent years helping Hollywood put its best face forward. This building serves as a standing memorial to exemplify this self-taught makeup artist. While he never earned an Oscar for helping make the ordinary beautiful, he did receive a special award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. You may have seen his name upon thousands of makeup products, but his real major local namesake is this local Art Deco four-story building that he remodeled in 1935 and opened to a grand party of 8,000 people, to which only 3,000 were invited. On the same day, an election took place and all city's bars were closed, which certainly aided the party's attendance, as there was a bar located on each floor, including one in the elevator. For his beauty salon's grand opening, Factor created four makeover rooms to complement women's coloring. Ginger Rogers cut the ribbon for the green room of redheads, Jean Harlow did the honors for the blue-painted salon "For Blondes Only," Rochelle Hudson for the opening of the "brownettes" in the peach-colored room, and finally Claudette Colbert presided in the unveiling of the brunettes' in the pink salon. Factor was known to the Hollywood stars by his nickname "Pop." Among one of his many beauty breakthroughs were false eyelashes, which he created in 1919 for Phyllis Mayer. Stars like Katharine Hepburn and Lucille Ball quickly took to the look. Factor's biggest assignment came in 1925 when he had to beautify and camouflage 3,000 extras for the most expensive silent film ever made, Ben Hur. For the appropriate ethnic look, extras were hosed down, 300 at a time, with a total of 600 gallons of Factor's Liquid Body Makeup in all different shades. Currently, this building stands as the home to the Hollywood History Museum, which opened in 2002.