In this circa 1910s photo, five early automobiles are parked out front of the Burbank Theatre (1893 to 1947), which shared space with a tailor, a trunk factory, and a hat shop, which are businesses we don’t see much anymore. Had the photographer taken a shot of the block, we would also have seen nine more theaters: the Rounder, the Galway, the Sherman, the Gayety, the Star, the Optic, the Picture, the Art, and the Bijou. So obviously Angelenos weren’t short of choice back then.

Incidentally, the Burbank was named after the same guy that the City of Burbank was named after: Dr. David Burbank, a dentist who owned a sheep ranch in the San Fernando Valley and was also rather entrepreneurial. Talk about diversification.

The same view in May 2019: