It’s kind of funny that someone should caption this photo “World Famous Hollywood and Vine Hollywood California” when the photographer had his back to the intersection so you can’t even see it! Still, it does give us a closer view of the line of stores on the east side of Vine St, opposite The Broadway department store. I can’t make out all the signs, but I can see: Sidney’s (who were going out of business when this photo was taken in 1951), Firefly (great name for a bar) The Ham’n’Egger (competition to Glorifried Ham n Eggs farther down the street), the Gidlow & Sellers barber shop, and then of course after the parking driveway, the Brown Derby. And check out those airfares: $9.95 to San Francisco and $99 to New York.
The office tower on the left is still there (the Taft) and the building that once housed The Broadway is still there, but as we can see from this December 2020 image, precious little remains from the 1951 photo:
Amazingly, airfares didn’t change much in the succeeding 25+ years. Remember as a kid in the ’70s San Francisco to LA (round trip!) was $18.00 on PSA. The planes were usually half empty & the flight attendants (then stewardess’s) wore uniforms of mini skirts & Go-Go boots in day glow colors of pink & orange!
Those were the days!
…..and just out of view on the left, was Ora Matthess Menswear. I recall his son took over the business in the 1960s and it closed soon-after.
So Ora Matthess Menswear was in the Taft building?