Most photos of the famed intersection of Hollywood and Vine are taken at the street level. This aerial shot from 1931 shows us a bird’s eye view. We can see the Equitable, Taft and Broadway buildings in the lower right part of the photo, all of which are still with us. It’s interesting to see how many private homes dotted and open land dotted the cityscape, especially the apartment building that stood where the iconic Capitol Records building now stands in the center of this image.
Aerial photo of the Hollywood and Vine intersection, Hollywood, 1931
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An amazing amount of vacant land in 1931. The Bartlett home and Glengarry Castle are still extant. Argyle doesn’t go all the way through and is impeded by an extension of Yucca St. It appears that land is being cleared at the SW corner of Yucca and Argyle for construction of a large market, that will later become a film studio, printing house and radio station.
So much will be destroyed within the next 10 years.
I like all of the residential homes that were once there. I wish I could go back to 1931. La looks so open and clean and more interesting architecture that is a given.
Looking at the north side of the intersection, there appears to be a larger PE streetcar where the Franklin line met the Hollywood-Santa Monica main. At the far end this line terminated on Western at Santa Monica and was treated generally as a shuttle service. Early and late cars seen in films and stills tend to show smaller cars (Birneys in the late years). But at this time, the curving re-alignment down Argyle through Yucca and onto Vine probably allowed for the accomodation of bigger cars to navigate this line. (The switch into the Hollywood line, curve track visible in older photos, likely allowed for cars that could return to Sherman’s yards for overnight storage.) Thus, the view here provides a classic shot of the battleground between mass transit and the automobile in that pre-freeway era.
Parking lot at the future site of the Laemmle Building is hidden behind the billboards (presumably Universal Pictures ads?) facing the intersection. The post office next door is still showing the clock & signs for the Hollywood Secretarial School.