In 1909, a little group from a Los Angeles Methodist congregation began organizing a new church by renting a space above the Owl Drugstore on a street known as Prospect Street. In 1910, this street was renamed Hollywood Blvd. The original building still stands today on the southeast corner of Wilcox and Hollywood Blvd. The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Hollywood was built in 1911 on the northeast corner of Hollywood Blvd and Ivar. It was designed by H. W. Wood and built in the
Mission Revival style for a cost $35,000, but due to its limited seating capacity of 800 it was demolished in the early 1920s and replaced by the Guaranty Building in 1923 which still stands today. The $800,000 structure was opened on March 16, 1930 and dedicated later that year. The building was adopted as
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #248 in 1981. The church erected a large red ribbon on its bell tower in 1993 in honor of
World AIDS day. The ribbons were replaced with more permanent versions in 1996, and were repainted in 2004. Since then, the church has been at the forefront of fighting for gay rights within the United Methodist Church, and has attracted a largely
LGBT congregation. ==Architecture==