Looking south down Broadway between 5th and 6th Streets at night, downtown Los Angeles, 1956.jpg

Looking south down Broadway between 5th and 6th Streets at night, downtown Los Angeles, 1956Driving down Broadway at night in 1956, when this photo was taken, was a wonderland of bright neon light. In this one view alone we can see: Silverwoods (menswear), Desmond’s (menswear, especially hats), the Palace Theatre, Hotel Lankershim, Bullocks (department store), Kress (five-and-dime), the Los Angeles Theatre, Swelldom (women’s clothing), and Hartfield’s (department store.) Even the dentist on that block had a neon sign—he probably needed one just to stand out!

Tony V. says: “Swelldom’s featured live models in its second story windows overlooking Broadway, wearing the latest arrivals in lunchtime and after work fashion shows.

A daytime view of Swelldom:

Swelldom, Broadway, Los Angeles

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

 

3 responses to “Looking south down Broadway between 5th and 6th Streets at night, downtown Los Angeles, 1956.jpg”

  1. William Bergmann says:

    Cool. I worked at that Bullock’s for Xmas 55 and 56.

  2. Bill Wolfe says:

    I worked at Fourth and Spring during the latter half of the 1990s, while City Hall was being earthquake retrofitted. It’s shocking to see how alive this street was, not so many years before. Happily, the area is on the upswing these days.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *