One of my favorite buildings in Los Angeles is the old Bullocks Wilshire department store on Wilshire Boulevard. Although it no longer houses a store, the building still stands in all its glory. This photo is circa WWII (the original caption said 1949 but all those cars appear to be pre-war) and what strikes me about this shot is how clean the streets are—no congestion, no trash, no crowding. I actually found this photo quite calming.

The same view in September 2017: