In this circa 1927 photo, we’re looking west along Hollywood Blvd from the Hillview apartments (at 6533 Hollywood Blvd, now known as the Hudson apartments) on the Hudson Ave corner. Built in 1917, it was the first apartment building that would rent to those denizens on the bottom of the social totem pole: movie actors. Apparently, some of the early residents include Mae Busch, Stan Laurel, Barbara La Marr, Joan Blondell, Clara Bow, and Mary Astor. As we can see, the Boulevard was much less packed, with far fewer cars and buildings crowded along it. We can even clearly see the tower of the First National Bank of Hollywood building in the background.

The Hudson Apartments in December 2020. They’re actually quite nice apartments inside but someone told me there’s also a lot of noise.