In this quietly genteel photo from 1926, we’re looking west along W. Adams Blvd toward St. Vincent de Paul’s Roman Catholic Church. It must have been a pleasure to drive around Los Angeles back then. All those spacious boulevards with so much room you didn’t even need lanes. Getting around looks like it was easy, parking looks like it was easy, hardly anybody was in a rush—unless you were the Keystone Kops. If you had a reliable car (a big “if” back then), it must have been fun to run around town looking for the latest speakeasy and quaff bathtub gin made god-only-knew where by god-only-knew who.
I’m not 100% sure, but I think this is the current view. This image is from March 2022:
As in most of these pictures you good people share, what a difference between the beauty of yesteryear and the disappointment of what we see today
I’m more of a realist when it comes to comparing “then” with “now” but this one was so disheartening I almost didn’t bother.
I share the dissapointment in the loss of the serene elegance in the “then” and “now” photos. A minor point, but the view is looking west on Adams toward the intersection with Figueroa.
Thanks, Gordon. I originally thought it was east-looking but when I looked at the current day image I realized I had it around the wrong way, but forgot to change the text.
The graffiti does the picture no justice. The original looks much better.