This 1914 photo looking north up Vermont Avenue from Hollywood Blvd reminds us that once upon a time the streets of Los Angeles were wide and quiet and unpaved, and you could park pretty much wherever you like because there was no competition for parking spaces. And look at the license plate on the car to the left: four numbers. These days it’s a combination of seven numbers and letters, and therefore harder to remember. (Or am I the only who can’t remember the license plate of the car he’d driven for the past 20 years?)
**UPDATE** – a couple of people on Facebook suggested that the vintage photo was actually looking south.
Jesslyn says: “1914 – California had only been requiring drivers licenses for one year, at that time. And they didn’t require that you pass a test until 1927!“
I don’t know where exactly the 1914 photo was taken but this is Vermont Ave north of Hollywood Blvd in May 2019:
That’s why I carry a photo of my car license on my phone.
Ha! So it’s not just me. That’s a good idea – I’ll do that later today.
Look at the building. We see an angled doorway suggesting a street corner. Might seem like all wood details. But notice the square stone block columns? This might be a match to the brick face building occupied by Sarno’s Italian Bakery from 1946-onward, assuming it had been remodeled earlier. All in all, old Prospect heading east on the right. The stub section of the 4700 block of Hollywood Blvd. (ex-Prospect) would be left of camera. Then the triangular reserve created by the diagonal extension of Hollywood from Sunset (to carry the electric interurban cars) would be behind to the southwest side. Olive Hill would be across that roadway. The building in the modern view is the one that Sarno’s was in before they closed in 2000, after 54 years of fabulous rum cakes.
Partially solved….car is parked next to Hastings Place on the Vermont edge of the triangular reserve. On the other side, they faced to the passing Red Car tracks on the diagonal cut of Hollywood Boulevard and acted as the Wells Fargo & Company Express agency. Aerial images show this piece of dirt still exists in recent years as a semi park like zone.