In the early 1950s, some adventurous person leaned out of a Red Car heading east along Hollywood Boulevard and caught the intersection of Western Ave and a Red Car heading west. Whoever they were, I’m grateful for the glimpse into 50s Los Angeles, with its then-ubiquitous Thrifty drug store. That red-brick building is no longer there but cater-corner to it is a building that was built by MGM’s Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg. Opening on December 8, 1928, it was the first location of Motion Picture Association of America, Central Casting, the Hays Office. So going into the 1930s, the decisions made inside that building determined the course of Hollywood filmmaking.

That same view in March 2019:

Historical note: that building in the background of the vintage photo – the one directly behind the Red Car – is the Guardian Arms Apartments at 5217 Hollywood Boulevard. The building is still there but does have a connection with infamy. Room 726 at the Guardian Arms was Elizabeth Short’s residence from October 10 though October 22, 1946. She lived there with her friend Marjorie, and two men, Bill Robinson and Marvin Margolis. Marjorie and the two men slept in the bed while Short slept on the floor. In January 1947, Elizabeth Short would die at the hands of a sadistic killer and the world would remember her as the Black Dahlia.