LOS ANGELES 1600 Vine Street is a 550-unit apartment complex in Hollywood where something strange is probably happening on any given day.
There may be a young lady hanging from a balcony with a masked guy brandishing a knife, or a spooky-looking clown scuttling over a thin ledge eight stories above the pavement. It also houses a pony, a newborn monkey, a husky dog with pink ears, and other unusual creatures.
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However, you don’t have to be a resident to enjoy the antics—anyone can watch them on YouTube, Instagram, and whatever Social Media Icons site emerges next. Several of the greatest names on the internet live and work out of the 1600 Vine building as studios and dorms.
Billions of people have seen the videos that were filmed there. The common areas are so identifiable that it seems like you’re going into the set of a well-known TV program. These areas include a large gym, hallways lined with beige blocks, and a courtyard surrounded by beautiful plants.
A who’s who of social media stars, including the twins Logan and Jake Paul, Amanda Cerny, Juanpa Zurita, Lele Pons, and Andrew Bachelor, also known as King Bach, are among the present and previous tenants.
others are renowned for being famous, others are models, and some are comedians. However, they are all only “influencers”; on social media, those with a sizable online following are represented.
A glimpse of these social media stars’ flourishing ecology may be seen on 1600 Vine. It’s a high school social hierarchy, complete with cliques, jealousies, and insecurity, just like in any other group of attention-seekers that live and work in the same building. The only difference is that everyone is aware of your exact popularity or lack thereof. And it’s made worse by the reality that influencers may become multimillionaires and have fan bases comparable to that of Hollywood stars.
The talent at 1600 Vine was compared by Joshua Cohen, the creator of Tubefilter, a website that monitors the internet video market, to a contemporary Brat Pack or Mickey Mouse Club.
“You have these individuals in the same setting, growing up together and learning their skills in entertainment together,” Mr. Cohen said. “At this point, they’re among the most prominent individuals on whatever platform they use.”
A neighbor asked sisters and bikini models Katie Teresi, left, and Bri Teresi, right, of 1600 Vine, to partake in an Instagram video that has received over two million views.
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As one would expect, the video site Vine is where 1600 Vine got its start as a social media launchpad.
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The celebrities from Vine’s six-second videos began moving to Los Angeles in 2014 in an attempt to make their pastime their profession. A handful of the early stars moved into this modern building with plenty of amenities, located between Jimmy Durante and Clark Gable on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and above Trader Joe’s.
The apartments, which are distinguished by their floor to ceiling windows, contemporary kitchens and living rooms, and communal facilities including a pool and hot tub, quickly gained notoriety as the background of the most well-liked Vine videos. Before long, 1600 Vine was the place to be seen.
Even when Vine stopped down in 2016, things stayed that way.
Ms. Cerny, 26, who relocated to Los Angeles from Florida four years ago to pursue her acting career, was one of the early stars. After being turned down by agencies due to her inexperience, the former model began creating Vine videos. She relocated to 1600 Vine in order to be nearer to other Vine stars when her absurd comedic skits became popular.
We could shoot anywhere, at any time, which made it ideal, she said. “It helps to be in the company of other creative people.”
With 1.1 million YouTube subscribers and 18.8 million Instagram followers, Ms. Cerny is now ranked among the top influencers. She is best known for her vlogs on YouTube, which combine a daily journal with the manufactured drama of reality TV. She receives six figure payments from sponsors like Guess jeans for advertising their goods.
Additionally, hanging out around 1600 Vine may open doors. The actor Ray Diaz, who was a regular on the Hulu series “East Los High,” had only 5,000 Instagram followers a year ago. He then met Ms. Pons, a 21-year-old YouTube comedian with 20.9 million Instagram followers, one day while working out in the building’s gym (a friend of his resided there). He accepted Ms. Pons’ invitation to participate in her skit, “My Big Fat Hispanic Family,” which is about introducing her crazy family and friends to a new lover.
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After the video received over 12 million views, Mr. Diaz quickly rose to prominence as an influencer, gaining over a million Instagram followers in the months after its release. Even after securing a regular role on TV Land’s comedic series “Lopez,” Mr. Diaz continued to want more. He so relocated to one of the better split-level two-bedroom condos on the tenth floor at 1600 Vine in December.
He says that he moved from driving for Uber to driving a Bentley and now has 3.2 million followers. “The penthouse is paid for by Instagram,” he continued.
Actor Gregg Martin, homeowner of 1600 Vine, is on the left; actor Taylor Offer is on the right.
Aspiring influencers continue to pour money into 1600 Vine, paying anywhere from $2,500 to $15,000 a month, drawn by success tales like as Mr. Diaz’s. In the hopes of collaborating with a few well-known influencers to get a foot in the door, many budding photographers and video editors congregate in the common areas.
There are a lot of contemporary apartment complexes in the Hollywood region, including this one. Though there are often rumors that a different, neighboring building is the newest hot location with friendlier policies for social media celebrities, 1600 Vine is still the most noticeable and well-known.
Swimsuit models Bri and Katie Teresi moved into a tiny one-bedroom apartment in June for $2,700 a month after experiencing the benefits of surrounding themselves with other influencers. One of their buildingmates, Josh Paler Lin, recruited them to be in a film where the exhaust of a Lamborghini blasts their clothing off. With over two million views, the sisters claimed to have gained 10,000 new fans each.
“At the moment, my main goal is to increase my following and grow my account,” said 23-year-old Bri Teresi, who has 419,000 Instagram followers.
For others, residing at 1600 Vine is a fantastic chance for marketing.
here order to market their sock firm, Feat Socks, Taylor Offer and Parker Burr moved here last year with the intention of befriending social media stars, rather than for personal stardom. Mr. Offer compared his first visit to the two-bedroom flat, which he knew from Vine videos, to “walking into Jerry’s apartment building on ‘Seinfeld.'” He simply had to provide evidence that he and Mr. Burr could pay the $3,700 monthly rent in order to sign a lease on the spot.
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But Mr. Offer quickly saw that helping the influencers meet their daily content needs was more important than just letting them reside in the facility. Thus, Mr. Offer purchased a stylish Polaris Slingshot automobile and a charming English bulldog puppy. The dog made an appearance with Ms. Cerny in a video, and Logan Paul showed curiosity in the purple car—a three-wheeled machine that resembled a roadster.
A celebrity such as Mr. Paul may choose from a variety of sponsorship offers, but he developed a bet, or rather, a social media narrative, since he became fond of his new neighbors. Mr. Paul promised to buy the roadster if he could sell 20Picturepairs of socks featuring his vibrant parrot, Maverick. Even though he lost, Feat had its highest sales month ever, and Mr. Paul was paid a fee of $200,000 for his video promotion of the wager.
Mr. Offer said, “This place pays for itself as a business expense.”
Reality Program
Even yet, residence at 1600 Vine does not confer influencer status. Additionally, it encourages a certain kind of backbiting and cliquism.
The building’s stars, according to young actor Gregg Martin, who has scored little parts in TV shows like “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” seemed to gaze down on him. On Instagram, he has 44,000 followers.
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The Teresis and Mr. Offer. Hanging out at 1600 Vine might lead to possibilities, as residents collaborate on marketing campaigns or social media ventures.
The majority of people here find it to be absurd, he said. “People just kind of stare at you and the numbers.”
He was advised by one influencer that he followed too many accounts on Instagram. It gave him an air of desperation. He said, “I thought he was kidding.” However, he was quite serious.
The building also draws its fair share of wannabe celebrities, such as the Justin Bieber impostor who often appears in the building visiting a buddy and has identical tattoos to the singer.
Additionally, it attracts strange behavior that doesn’t exactly make for pleasant neighbors. Social media celebrities must post regularly to avoid being forgotten. They are driven by this dynamic to act in more ridiculous ways in an attempt to get attention.
Take Logan Paul, one of the most popular YouTubers, whose channel has around 15 million followers. His increasingly outrageous antics in only March included stringing a zip line over Hollywood Boulevard to deliver presents to followers camping outside, hanging a $20 note from his balcony using a fishing rod to entice onlookers, and acting like he was shot while terrified fans watched outside his window.
Mr. Paul was informed by building management that his lease would not be renewed. He, of course, videotaped the exchange for his vlog and then proceeded to the building next door. (There, too, he was ordered to leave.)
Management has also restricted the areas where homeowners may shoot when other neighbors began to voice their complaints. It forbade filming near the courtyard pool at first. Then it outlawed the use of big, professional cameras in any shared spaces. Furthermore, in June, the management took it a step further and mandated that tenants get permission before filming any footage in communal spaces.
The chairperson of Klein Financial Corporation, Danielle Guttman Klein, said that the management company, which is in charge of the property, must balance the needs of its stars with those of its renters, whose main professions don’t include earning Facebook likes.
For the time being, at least, the influencers appear to understand. Ms. Cerny said that despite threats of eviction, she was permitted to remain by management on the condition that she refrain from filming in any of the communal spaces. However, she said that she could see why a lot of the well-known people had moved away.
It may become too much at times, she said. “You need to go somewhere eventually and take a break from posting about your life on social media.”
