The middle of the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood isn’t the first place I’d have thought of if I’d wanted to raise casaba melons. But if this huge crop is anything to go by, apparently 101 years ago, it was the perfect place. These three melon farmers were standing at what is now the corner of Sunset Blvd and Harper Ave, which is now—of course it is—a parking lot.

The same view in March 2018: