Los Angeles’s post-WWII decentralization gave Angelenos countless areas to shop without having to traipse into downtown L.A. where all the big (and tons of smaller) stores were. But during before then, downtown was lively bustling place, as this photo shows. It was taken in December 1937, so the people crowding the sidewalks of Broadway were doing their Christmas shopping. I bet the streetcars were uncomfortably crowded with packages that day.
Christmas shoppers crowd Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, December 1937
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The people on the right may actually be in a streetcar boarding/safety zone. Notice how this appears to be only one lane of traffic outside the wide sidewalk area…so they are all lined up between the first lane and the second where the tracks run. They’re facing the arriving trolleys?
The consensus on Twitter is that you’re exactly right, Al.