I love seeing photos of when Hollywood Blvd was more of a neighborhood shopping street. Here in one shot we can see a whole afternoon and evening’s entertainment. First I’d go to See’s Candies to pick up some chocolates to eat while seeing “My Gal Sal” and “The Great Man’s Lady” at the Hollywood Theatre, 6764 Hollywood Blvd (both movies came out in April 1942). Afterwards, I browse the Hollywood Book Store (where I’d probably buy “The Robe” which was a big seller that year), and then afterwards I’d have dinner at Italian Kitchen restaurant where I’d choose between the spaghetti for 30 cents, ravioli for 35 cents, or if I really wanted to treat myself, veal or chicken cacciatora for 55 cents. And then I’d go home on the Red Car whose tracks we can see in the foreground. Anybody care to join me?

Andie P said: “When my dad got out of the Army Air Corps in 1946, he lived in Hollywood in an apartment over a barber shop on Western. He said he could walk to anything he needed and take the rail cars to the beach. He bought a car so he could get out to where acreage was being sold in the S.F. Valley and a “utility yard” in Long Beach with quonset hut buildings left over from use in WWII – where he began assembling equipment and material for his construction business, while he waited to get his licenses. In his letters to me, he described Hollywood as being “homey” with neighborhoods where most of the people knew each other. Many businesses had apartments on the second floors where the shop owners lived, though some had divided their apartments into two, with the addition of a bathroom and a kitchenette to rent during the scarcity of housing during the war.”

Here’s a postcard showing the interior of the Italian Kitchen at 6225 Hollywood Blvd: