Looking west along Wilshire Blvd from Vermont Ave toward the I. Magnin store at 3240 Wilshire, Los Angeles, circa 1940s |

Looking west along Wilshire Blvd from Vermont Ave toward the I. Magnin store at 3240 Wilshire, Los Angeles, circa 1940s

Posted on November 19, 2020 by Martin Turnbull

In this photo we’re looking west along Wilshire Blvd from Vermont Ave. In the medium distance we can see the I. Magnin department store at 3240 Wilshire Blvd, which had some major competition a couple of blocks east: Bullocks Wilshire. This photo was taken circa 1940s when Wilshire was a busy commercial thoroughfare, but, as we can see here, was still had a feeling of spaciousness that it no longer has. I’d love to see the full United Airlines billboard on the right and know how much airfares to San Francisco were back then.

This image taken at the same corner in March 2020 shows how built up that stretch of Wilshire Blvd has become.

That streetlamp on the corner was called a Wilshire Special. Here’s a close up showing how ornate it was.

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4 responses to “Looking west along Wilshire Blvd from Vermont Ave toward the I. Magnin store at 3240 Wilshire, Los Angeles, circa 1940s”

Richard Dixon says:

November 19, 2020 at 7:44 am

Any idea what happened to these wonderful street lights when they were taken down. There mus have been thousands replaced which is unfortunate. So love getting your posts every day Martin. Thanks for all the effort you put into this project.

Reply
- Martin Turnbull says:
  
  November 19, 2020 at 7:51 am
  
  That’s a good question, Richard. I don’t know but I’ll see if I can find out. I assume most of them were trashed but that would have been an awful shame.
  
  Reply
  - Matt says:
    
    November 19, 2020 at 11:33 am
    
    Regarding the beautiful old streetlights:
    https://bsl.lacity.org/museum.html
    Another is the Public Art ‘Urban Light’ installation in front of LA County Museum on Wilshire:
    http://www.publicartinpublicplaces.info/Urban-Light-2008-by-Chris-Burden
    
    Speculation only guess – Most, if not all, of the original streetlights were removed in the ’60s when developer William Zeckendorf and Alcoa Aluminum partnered to build Century City with all of their “modern” aluminum streetlights and buildings.
    
    Reply
    - Martin Turnbull says:
      
      November 19, 2020 at 11:40 am
      
      I’d say that’s a pretty good guess, Matt.
      
      Reply

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