In this circa early 1940s photo, we’re looking north up Vista del Mar Ave in Hollywood, toward the Hollywoodland sign. On the left, we can see the Hollywood Tower apartment building. It’s in the National Register of Historic Places, so it’s still around. But what’s not still around is practically everything else in this photo. As far as I can make out, the photographer is standing where the Hollywood Freeway plowed through in the 1950s, bisecting Vista del Mar Ave into two short stretches of street between Franklin Ave and Yucca St. What a difference a 10-lane freeway makes!
Mary Mallory says: “The “H” of the Sign fell off around 1942 after storms, and was left like this for years, one of the reasons many residents in 1949 asked for the whole sign to be demolished.”
As you can see, the Hollywood Freeway ripped right through that neighborhood.
In the color aerial view, that parking lot at the bottom of the page is where the Twist home was located (first home of the Studio Club). When it burned c.1949 St. Stephen’s Episcopal church cleared the land for a parking lot.
Now linked to Hollywood Studio Club entry: https://martinturnbull.com/2018/07/17/an-early-view-of-6129-carlos-ave-hollywood-the-first-location-of-the-hollywood-studio-club-2/
Martin, how about an entry on St. Stephens Episcopal first site at Prospect near Ivar (southeast corner)? The clock tower is visible in the aerial of the Stearns estate at Vine, although another long building lies east of it by then.