Angelenos practice an air raid drill in the Pacific Electric Hill Street subway station, downtown Los Angeles, April 25, 1958
At first glance this photo looks like it may have been taken in London during the Blitz when people took shelter in the Tube stations. But no, this was taken on April 25, 1958 in the Pacific Electric Hill Street subway station in downtown L.A. It was an air raid drill—in fact it was the first building-wide evacuation in Los Angeles, during which these people were treated to a talk on civil defense. Given that this was during the Cold War, I’m guessing the authorities thought it necessary to come up with a contingency plan in case the Reds decided to drop the bomb on us.
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Obviously “post hat ” era BW.
From what I’ve read, hats didn’t go out of style until January 20, 1961; the date of JFK’s inauguration. Apparently he disliked hats and refused to wear what was untill then de rigueur (according to strict etiquette) a formal top hat. Also note only one woman (left forefront with black purse) appears to be wearing gloves. Maybe being underground everyone decided hats and gloves could be left at the office?
I don’t know for sure but I suspect that all these people worked in the same building and this was a mandatory drill done some time during the day, and after it was over, they all simply went back to work. That’s interesting about the JFK inauguration. I didn’t know about that.
Like Clark Gable’s famous scene in “It happened One Night” certain filmed events had monumental social impact on the general public. Gable’s was something as simple as removing his shirt with no tshirt underneath.Tshirt sales tanked after the movie came out. Same with JFK’s filmed no hat inauguration, hat sales tanked.
I thought the same thing, people shown worked in same building. Everyone just took elevators/escalators down to platform, hence no hats or gloves. Also guessing Pacific Electric Hill Street subway station shown morphed from the historic Pacific Electric Building; which opened in 1905 as the terminal for the Pacific Electric Red Car Lines and was the company’s headquarters building.
Yes to all of the above.