This chap is standing (rather awkwardly, it seems to me) on the southeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Western Ave some time in the early 1950s, if those cars behind him are anything to go by. (The city of Los Angeles removed the last of its two-light semaphore traffic signals in 1956.) What struck me about this photo, though, was how the stop sign has an “Auto Club of So Cal” logo on it. Did they sponsor stop signs back then? When you think about it, it’s not a bad advertising opportunity – drivers are (nearly) always going to notice stop signs.
That same corner in April 2018. The corner behind him is now occupied by a Verizon store, which is a shame because I was hoping that the charming Village Cafe building was still there.
The Automobile Club of Southern California erected signs in the state’s 13 southern counties from 1906 until 1956. In a sense, only after 1956 did the state take over road sign responsibility.
I have a feeling the malnourished, posture-challenged young man was looking for a friend… I believe that stretch of Western was, by the 50’s, a cruising area. A few sorefronts beyond the Village Cafe was the Sunset Theatre, 1508 North Western, built 1930something, a venue of 500 seats that screened arty European films in the late 40’s, eventually morphing into screening adult films by the early 60’s. In 1966, the owners hired Vince Miranda, owner of two successful adult theatres, to design a renovation, making The Sunset a respectable (!). He glittered up the lobby as an art gallery, with foyer partitions of beveled glass, crimson low-pile carpeting, ornately framed female nudes mounted on walls covered in brushed velveteen papered walls, and chandeliers dripping with crystal bobèches and prisms, to make no one be ashamed to be seen walking in to see xxx fare. Two years later, Miranda bought the theatre, and it became the Pussycat Theatre showcase, the 2nd of an eventual chain of 46 California Pussycat Theatres. His office was around the corner at 5445 West Sunset. It remained a Pussycat Theatre until the bitter end, sustaining fire damage in 1999 and finally demolished in 2003, replaced with the “Developer Moderne” 24-Hour Walgreens/Verizon mini-mall & residences. Online facts are minimal, culled from cinematreasures.com, Jay Allen Sanford’s blog “Pussycat Theaters: The Inside Story,” and personal observation, a place I passed while driving to my job at AFI in the late 80’s…
P.S. Rose Marie Vince Miranda’s beard – she loved going out to events with him, and she performed in some West Coast premieres of NY Theatre he produced at one of his theaters in San Diego…
Clarifying some of what I wrote (and apparently didn’t proofread very well)
P.S. Although The Pussycat Theatre chain screened heterosexually-oriented adult movies, its owner, Vince Miranda, was gay. Rose Marie was Vince Miranda’s beard – she loved going out to events with him (like Hollywood movie premieres, charity fundraisers, and social events related to Miranda’s philanthropic work done for Variety Arts Club), and she performed in some West Coast premieres of NY theatre productions that Miranda produced at his “legit” theatre in San Diego [it was one of about four or five theatres that were in what’s called the gaslight district – I think they were all demolished, in the “urban blight removal/property developer & elected official enrichment” scenario that occurred in many American downtowns, including LA’s leveling/eradicating any trace of the Bunker Hill neighborhood (aside from Angels Flight) displacing its marginalized working-class, senior, immigrant, and non-white citizens].
And for people reading the comments who aren’t familiar with L.A., the west coast offices of the AFI (the American Film Institute) and its AFI Conservatory for Advanced Film Studies are located at 2021 N. Western Av., about ten blocks north of where the man is slouching toward the Auto Club of Southern California-sponsored traffic regulator. AFI was created in 1967; so when slouchy man was caught in this 1950s photo, that site was Immaculate Heart College, which was built in the 1920s, closed due to financial difficulties in 1981, and subsequently purchased in 1982 as AFI’s permanent west coast home.
This chap is standing (rather awkwardly, it seems to me) on the southeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Western Ave some time in the early 1950s, if those cars behind him are anything to go by. (The city of Los Angeles removed the last of its two-light semaphore traffic signals in 1956.) What struck me about this photo, though, was how the stop sign has an “Auto Club of So Cal” logo on it. Did they sponsor stop signs back then? When you think about it, it’s not a bad advertising opportunity – drivers are (nearly) always going to notice stop signs.
too much booze in Summer? The shop’s Name is V E R I Z O N 🙂
Too much booze or autocorrect. You choose!
Shouldn’t it be the NORTHeast corner?
What I meant was that the guy is standing on the southeast corner.
The Automobile Club of Southern California erected signs in the state’s 13 southern counties from 1906 until 1956. In a sense, only after 1956 did the state take over road sign responsibility.
Thanks, David. I didn’t know that so thanks for filling us in.
I have a feeling the malnourished, posture-challenged young man was looking for a friend… I believe that stretch of Western was, by the 50’s, a cruising area. A few sorefronts beyond the Village Cafe was the Sunset Theatre, 1508 North Western, built 1930something, a venue of 500 seats that screened arty European films in the late 40’s, eventually morphing into screening adult films by the early 60’s. In 1966, the owners hired Vince Miranda, owner of two successful adult theatres, to design a renovation, making The Sunset a respectable (!). He glittered up the lobby as an art gallery, with foyer partitions of beveled glass, crimson low-pile carpeting, ornately framed female nudes mounted on walls covered in brushed velveteen papered walls, and chandeliers dripping with crystal bobèches and prisms, to make no one be ashamed to be seen walking in to see xxx fare. Two years later, Miranda bought the theatre, and it became the Pussycat Theatre showcase, the 2nd of an eventual chain of 46 California Pussycat Theatres. His office was around the corner at 5445 West Sunset. It remained a Pussycat Theatre until the bitter end, sustaining fire damage in 1999 and finally demolished in 2003, replaced with the “Developer Moderne” 24-Hour Walgreens/Verizon mini-mall & residences. Online facts are minimal, culled from cinematreasures.com, Jay Allen Sanford’s blog “Pussycat Theaters: The Inside Story,” and personal observation, a place I passed while driving to my job at AFI in the late 80’s…
Wow, Gary, thanks for that history. Much appreciated!
P.S. Rose Marie Vince Miranda’s beard – she loved going out to events with him, and she performed in some West Coast premieres of NY Theatre he produced at one of his theaters in San Diego…
Clarifying some of what I wrote (and apparently didn’t proofread very well)
P.S. Although The Pussycat Theatre chain screened heterosexually-oriented adult movies, its owner, Vince Miranda, was gay. Rose Marie was Vince Miranda’s beard – she loved going out to events with him (like Hollywood movie premieres, charity fundraisers, and social events related to Miranda’s philanthropic work done for Variety Arts Club), and she performed in some West Coast premieres of NY theatre productions that Miranda produced at his “legit” theatre in San Diego [it was one of about four or five theatres that were in what’s called the gaslight district – I think they were all demolished, in the “urban blight removal/property developer & elected official enrichment” scenario that occurred in many American downtowns, including LA’s leveling/eradicating any trace of the Bunker Hill neighborhood (aside from Angels Flight) displacing its marginalized working-class, senior, immigrant, and non-white citizens].
And for people reading the comments who aren’t familiar with L.A., the west coast offices of the AFI (the American Film Institute) and its AFI Conservatory for Advanced Film Studies are located at 2021 N. Western Av., about ten blocks north of where the man is slouching toward the Auto Club of Southern California-sponsored traffic regulator. AFI was created in 1967; so when slouchy man was caught in this 1950s photo, that site was Immaculate Heart College, which was built in the 1920s, closed due to financial difficulties in 1981, and subsequently purchased in 1982 as AFI’s permanent west coast home.
Martin is LA’s historian…there’s none better
Thanks, Joe. I don’t know that I consider myself an historian, but I sure do appreciate the vote of confidence!