In this slice-of-life shot, we’re seeing a busy downtown Los Angeles during the Christmas rush of 1940. We’re looking east along 7th St through the intersection of Grand St, where two types of streetcars are lining up along 7th Street to take Angelenos with their bundles home to wrap their presents. In fact, it looks like a mini traffic jam is happening. Cars going in both directions have entered the intersection, plus streetcars, plus pedestrians, and the only thing controlling the flow is that two-light semaphore traffic signal!
Much the same view in January 2022, when things were a tad more calm than they were back in 1940:
There’s a cop talking to the driver of that car….he’s probably supplementing the traffic controls and there might even be a second one out of view. That PCC car would have really stood out in LARy’s bright yellow.
This is one of the few “then and now” comparisons where it looks like just about all the same buildings are still standing.
I thought the same thing, and how rare that is these days.