It’s hard to beat a nighttime shot for atmosphere. This is the United Cigar Company store, which stood at 4th and Spring Streets in downtown Los Angeles. It was taken in 1912, just as cars were starting to take over. We can see the silhouette of a wagon wheel on the left. And on the right an elevated police traffic box—though I’m not sure how much attention drivers paid to a cop up there. And in the middle the United Cigar Company boasts the claim that they are “the largest retail cigar dealers in the world.” That’s quite a claim, but they do look very well stocked.

John J says: “The United Cigar company were part of the American Tobacco Company that were broken up by the Sherman anti-trust act in 1911, after which they were not the largest retail cigar dealer. They had two other shops on Spring street. This photo is likely the Fourth street store, which was their first shop from 1906.”

Andrew C says: “The box is a LA Railway control tower. It’s operator controlled the routing at that busy streetcar junction point. There was a similar tower at several major junctions including at 9th and Main.”