ARC Pressing Plant, Hollywood

West Coast pressing plant originally operated by the American Record Corporation, which owned labels such as Columbia, Brunswick, Vocalion (2), Okeh and several other labels. Mostly a 78 pressing plant, though recordings were also made there up to the early 1940's (identified by an 'LA' prefix in the matrix numbers). Originally opened in 1935 as a replacement for a pressing plant previously operated by Columbia in Oakland, California. From 1939 onwards, this plant was operated by CBS Inc. under the banner of the Columbia Recording Corporation (nomenclature changed in 1947 to Columbia Records, Inc.). The plant remained in operation until 1948 when it was subsumed and replaced by the newer Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Hollywood. NOTE: In place, lieu and stead of identifying markers in the deadwax / runout section, the main way to identify pressings from ARC's Hollywood plant is the label copy typesetting on the center labels, which was heavy on different sizes of Cheltenham Bold Condensed, plus Century Expanded for the matrix numbers (and, after the early 1940's, Metroblack No. 2 for the text type), and on early Columbia "red-label" releases in 1939 (such as Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh / How Many Times), a layout positioning similar to what was used on Brunswick and Vocalion (2) releases up to that point. The diameter and thickness of the deep grooves in the label area was similar to pressings by Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Bridgeport.