Here we can see the corner of Hollywood and Vine decorated for the holidays, circa 1950. Beginning with the holiday season of 1928, a one-mile stretch of Hollywood Boulevard between Vine Street and La Brea Ave was transformed into “Santa Claus Lane.” At first, live fir trees were used, but later they were replaced with more practical metal ones, using hundreds and hundreds of colored lights. The idea originally came from the Hollywood Boulevard Association (which promoted the street as the “world’s largest department store”) designed to lure shoppers away from downtown’s dominant Broadway and soon became a much-loved tradition.