Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Hollywood

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church is a parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles located on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood, California. The church today serves an urban, multiethnic community and is known for, among other things, its gay and lesbian ministry and its many outreach programs, including programs to assist the poor. Founded in 1904, the parish was the home parish for many actors during the classic Hollywood era of the 1920s through the 1950s, including Bing Crosby, John Ford, Irene Dunne, Loretta Young, Ricardo Montalban and Ann Blyth. The Italian Renaissance church, built in 1928, but not completed until 1954, received a historic preservation grant in 2000 for the J. Paul Getty Trust and is considered one of the most beautiful churches in the Los Angeles Archdiocese.HistoryEarly yearsBlessed Sacrament Church was formed in 1904, and the first church, which accommodated 250 people, was built on Hollywood Boulevard (then called Prospect Ave). As the movie business developed in the 1910s, the population of Hollywood increased dramatically. By 1919, the old church was "literally bursting at the seams every Sunday." Enrollment at the parish school also jumped from 17 students in 1915 to 140 in 1919.