In this 1951 photo, we’re looking north up Gower St into the heart of Hollywood from Sunset Blvd. At the time, the main draw for that corner was Naples Restaurant at 1508 N. Gower. (It’s the place with the big STEAKS blade sign.) It must have been a fairly clear day because way in the background we can easily make out the Hollywood sign. And in the foreground on the left, a two-light semaphore traffic signal. The city of LA removed the last of the semaphores in 1956, so this one wouldn’t be around for much longer.
Not much has stayed the same, but the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood whose tower remains a landmark. This image is from June 2022.
Apparently Naples served the finest Italian food in California. That’s quite a claim!
Second photo was taken looking up Gower at Hollywood Blvd not Sunset.
I always look forward to your daily posts, Martin. Having Grown up in the area, I am always interested in the details that you point out in the photos. I want to add my two cents here. You can just barely see that the four spires on the Presbyterian church are missing in the current photo. This would go unnoticed by most people. We had a saver earthquake in the Valley in 1971, which did a lot of damage to the buildings there and in the surrounding communities. The quake knocked one or two of the spires off of the church tower and, rather than replace them, it was decided that the rest would also be removed. *Just a bit of trivia from one of your Native Californian Fans! Cheers, Richard–
Hi Richard and thanks for letting me know how much you enjoy my posts.