Evidently Angelenos dealing with traffic jams aren’t a modern bane of L.A. life, not if this circa 1931 photo is anything to go by. Most photos of L.A. from the 1930s show wide-open streets with lots of elbow room and free parking spaces everywhere, but something must have gone wrong at the corner of Wilshire Blvd and Western Ave I’m not 100% sure, but I think this view is looking east, in which case that’s the Wiltern Theatre going up on the right. It opened in October 1931, so the timeline fits. I love the irony of the “GO” traffic signal—those cars don’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon.
Looking east along Wilshire Blvd at Western Ave, in December 2020:
At the time that this photo was taken this intersection was documented to have more vehicles travelling through it than any other intersection in the world. The person shown in the photo is Ralph T. Dorsey, the city’s first traffic engineer. One year later, the Acme traffic signals on Wilshire Boulevard would be replaced by the city’s first tri-light signals. The Acme’s loud bells became annoying and the Acme’s were no longer considered to be state of the art.
Wow, John, that puts a whole different spin on things. “In the world?” That’s amazing. I wonder how a statistic like that was established back in the early 30s. More than Times Square? More than the Place de l’Etoile? More than Piccadilly Circus?
I inherited Ralph Dorsey’s newspaper clippings from his son about 25 years ago. In 1926 Wilshire Boulevard was rezoned from residential uses to commerecial development from West Lake (Mac Arthur) Park westerly. Soon thereafter, the Town House, Bullocks-Wilshire, the Brown Derby, the Beverly Hills shopping district, the Miracle Mile district and Westwood Village opened. This street was closely monitored and a 1928 count showed that 74,000 vehicles per day passed through the intersection, making it the heaviest motor vehicle intersection in the world. Certainly, other intersections, such as 7th Street and Broadway, and Times Square had more persons travelling through those intersections when pedestrians and trolley users are considered. But in terms of motor vehicles, the newspaper clipping indicates that this intersection was the busiest.
74,000 vehicles per day? In 1928? Wow, that’s A LOT more than I ever would have guessed.
Does anyone know what’s going on with the Wiltern? I drive by it regularly and the marquee has had a sign saying the theater is available for lease. I would expect it’s been shut for the past year, but I don’t know if this sign pre-dates the advent of the pandemic.
I assume it’s because of the Covid lockdown. From memory, it had a pretty thriving calendar before the pandemic.
Thanks. I hope that’s the case. It’s one of my favorite buildings in Los Angeles.
It’s such a shame these old revered buildings and theaters are being abandoned or demolished.
Indeed. And it’s a shame that those buildings weren’t revered.
Abandoned isn’t nearly as bad as demolished though right?
Better to fade away then burn out right?
Hey Brendan, if those two are your only choices, then yes, I’d take fade out over burn out.
The Wiltern has been a ‘for rent’ theatre for several years now. They seemed to be on solid financial ground with this model. Certainly before the pandemic, but that has changed everything for everyone. Now I don’t know.