What Is Happening to the Historic Jim Henson Lot Now That It Has New Owners?

“It’s time to meet the… new owners of the Muppet Studios”?

Last fall, it was revealed the famed Hollywood studio lot owned by the Jim Henson Company up for sale. Many, myself included, feared that the property, which is one of the most historic in Hollywood, would be bulldozed and redeveloped. However, things took a turn right out a Muppet movie that no one could have expected.

The land where the Jim Henson Studios Lot currently stands has been part of the entertainment industry for over 100 years. Back in 1917, silent film legend Charlie Chaplin first bought the land to turn it into a personal studio. As he wrote in his autobiography, “I decided to buy land in Hollywood and build one. The site was the corner of Sunset and La Brea and had a very fine ten-room house and five acres of lemon, orange and peach trees. We built a perfect unit, complete with developing plant, cutting room, and offices.”

Chaplin’s studio featured a facade of old English style buildings – – described in a contemporary Los Angeles Times article as “arranged as to give the effect of a picturesque English village street” – – that housed offices, editing rooms, a film laboratory, and a screening room. The property also featured two soundstages, a large outdoor backlot, dressing rooms, a garage, a prophase and carpentry shop, and a film vault as well as a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a residence. A Chaplin-produced short How to Make Movies documenting the construction of the studio was released in 1918.

Over the next thirty-plus years, many of Chaplin’s best-remembered films were produced at the studio, including The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), Monsieur Verdoux (1947), and Limelight (1952). In addition, the continuously expanding studio lot became a tourist attraction for both film fans and well-known figures including Winston Churchill and Helen Keller.

During a period of controversial political persecution, Chaplin left the United States and sold the studio in the mid-1950s. Several television productions were filmed there throughout the decade, and the animation studio that would become Hanna Barbera was founded and produced its earliest work on the property in 1957. Comedian Red Skelton purchased the property in 1960, and sold it to CBS two years later.

In 1966, A&M Records founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss purchased the studio and turned it into a headquarters for their record company. At the time of the purchase, an article described their plan as such: “The old sound stages are in the process of being completely rebuilt into what must be the most luxurious and pleasant recording studios in the world.”

A&M owned the property until 1999, during which time artists as varied as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, the Baja Marimba Band, Burt Bacharach, Sérgio Mendes, the Sandpipers, Boyce & Hart, the Carpenters, The Captain and Tennille, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Quincy Jones, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Humble Pie, Carole King, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,  Janet Jackson, the Police, Sting, the Go-Go’s; Bryan Adams, Oingo Boingo, the Human League, Soundgarden, Extreme, Amy Grant, Blues Traveler, Barry White, and Sheryl Crow among others recorded for the label. The legendary recording sessions for the charity single “We Are the World” were staged at the studio in the mid-1980s.

A&M’s ownership also coincided with one of the most famous events in the property’s history when Charlie Chaplin – – during his only return trip to the United States to receive an honorary Academy Award – – dropped by his former studio for a quick visit in 1972.

The Jim Henson Company, at the time controlled by the creator’s children Lisa and Brian Henson, purchased the property. At the time, Lisa said “The buildings are a lovable hodge-podge of quirky, unusual spaces. There are unexpected elements in some of the offices like original vaults and fish tank-like bathrooms. It’s not your typical corporate space, but it’s ideal for the Muppets” while son Brian added “When we heard that the Chaplin lot was for sale, we had to have it. It’s the perfect home for the Muppets and our particular brand of classy, but eccentric entertainment. When people walk onto our lot, they fall in love with Hollywood again.”

The company refurbished much of the grounds, including adding a massive statue of Kermit the Frog dressed in Chaplin’s famous Tramp costume. The lot served as the studio’s home for the next 24 years, even following its acquisition by Disney.

The lot was even heavily featured in the 2011 film The Muppets when the titular characters reunite to stage a telethon – – what would a Muppet film be without the characters putting on a show after all? – – to save the studio from being sold and torn down.

In 2024 life would imitate art, as the studio would be put up for sale. At the time, the Henson company said the sale was “part of a much longer-term strategy to have The Jim Henson Company and our renowned Burbank-based Jim Henson’s Creature Shop under one roof, which is not feasible in Hollywood due to the space the Shop requires.”

While the Muppets would not be able to save the studio, two other entertainment figures stepped in. In late 2024, musician John Mayer (who has long held an office on the lot) and filmmaker MCG teamed up to purchase the lot from Henson. The two completed the purchase in December of 2024, and according to reports planned to smoothly transition all operations and retain all studio staff, while maintaining the lot’s historic buildings and other structures.

The from Charlie Chaplin to A&M Records to the Jim Henson Company, this lot has been home to Hollywood history for well over a century. A legacy that new owners John Mayer and MCG seem to plan on continuing deep into the 21st century. Stay tuned to AllEars for more on entertainment history.

The Muppets Planned to Have a Ride DECADES Before Taking Over Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

Are you glad this historic lot is going to be preserved? Let us know in the comments below.