This aerial view from 1930 shows us how big the Hollywood Bowl actually is. The area in the center of the photo is Whitley Heights, which I posted about yesterday, and that major road snaking through the landscape is Cahuenga Blvd as it heads into the Cahuenga Pass and into the San Fernando Valley. It’s not quite so prominent now because the 101 Hollywood Freeway dominates the view.
Roughly the same view in January 2020:
Fascinating, as there is a Red Car in the first image stopped at the end of Highland where the junction with Cahuenga was…exactly as pictured in the other ground view 1930 photo posted 11/09/2019. And it looks to be well past the entrance by 100-200 feet.
Two pics show the 101’s almost total destruction of Whitley Heights, essentially slicing the neighborhood in two. The 1930 view intrigued me with the three heavily treed properties on the upper right. Couldn’t figure out what the top one was until I zoomed in, then looked at the lower two. These were major estates on large lots. All gone –
For those that don’t know, close by Hollywood Heritage Museum was the original barn (moved to this location) where C.B. DeMille directed Hollywood’s reputed first film “The Squaw Man” in 1912(?).
As it turns out, the original Highland line terminated at Cahuenga and the extension beyond into the valley was a different jurisduction. So local services continued to this layover point and operating rules for 1950 are known to exist (as layed out by Ira Swett in Interurbans Special 16, reprinted as I.S. 60) after the canyon line above was moved to the freeway center in the 1940’s era. Maps show there was a crossover rail below this end which would have re-routed a returning local onto the correct inbound track (from east side to west side). The car in the image should be a Hollywood Car as wooden 800 series interurban cars ran over the pass line until 1938. Then the Hollywood units were rebuilt in groups and took control of these duties.
That area designated for “Bowl Parking” across the junction looks to be nothing more than open spaces below the (white) road ascending the hill. Did they wipe out that neighborhood across the road later for the improved parking lots as cars took over?
Yes, there used to be a charming area known as French Village. It’s a real shame that got torn down.
https://martinturnbull.com/2014/11/22/the-french-village-corner-of-highland-ave-cahuenga-blvd/