Recently, I was contacted by a guy name Ken who wanted to alert me to a Universal picture from 1951 called “Hollywood Story.” He said I might enjoy it because it was filmed on location all around LA. Whenever I watch old movies like that I only have one eye on the plot; the other eye is on the background, trying to figure out where the scene was shot. I’m only 20 minutes into this movie and already it’s served up a whole raft of locations. But nothing beats this scene in the opening credits. In fact, it’s how the movie opens, and is a perfect shot for a movie called “Hollywood Story”: the street signs for LA’s most famous corner above a semaphore signal.
If you want to watch the movie, it’s on YouTube
Here is another shot from a couple of seconds later, showing Vine St looking north toward Hollywood Blvd at night. We can see neon signs for KECA radio (ABC), Santa Fe Railway, The Broadway Hollywood department store, Plaza Hotel, and the Miller beer sign on top of the Taft Building:
And shortly after those two shots is a shot of Ciro’s! (Plus, it stars the always enjoyable Julie – here billed as “Julia” – Adams, of Creature from the Black Lagoon fame.) Thanks for the link to what looks like a remarkably good print of this movie.
This intersection is like the central compass pointer on a map…”Begin your journey here, choose any direction and follow your nose!”. Just got back from re-tracking what can be found of the region going east towards the red car junctions. But looking west, this should be about the time Hollywood Toy and Costume opens down the road…a delight for all the kids if not the gang of mobsters further on. [Earlier images show a toy store in the north side.] And speaking of the kiddies…ten year old Kathy (Gidget) Kohner’s own pop is on the screenwritering team for this one. As for retrospective storyline in moviemaking and William Castle…who can forget the take “Matinee” had on that? Love that flashing sign over at the Admiral Theater! Jim Backus? C’mon…Hollywood Royalty, and who wouldn’t want to appear in Rebel Without Car Insurance. Gotta watch this one later!
Speaking of Hollywood at Vine…my recently found Roos Bros. matchbook gives these locations: San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Fresno, Berkeley, Palo Alto, and Hollywood. The reverse side advertises Thos. Heath Clothes below an image of tophat, gloves, and riding whip (no comment).
These street name signs were known as “shotgun” signs due to their shape. This style was installed between 1946 and 1962.
However, I have to wonder if the “Hollywood Blv” sign is a City installation or a studio fabrication. The abbreviation for the word, “boulevard” was always “Blvd.” on these signs. I have never seen the abbreviation “Blv.” with the “d” absent on this period of signs. I bet that the studio fabricated a facsimile Hollywood sign, because that corner of the intersection may have had only a “Vine St.” sign. In doing so, they overlooked the standard City practice for abbreviations. I guess the studio had to do so, for what would “Hollywood Story” be without “Hollywood” in the picture
I wondered about that, too, and also thought it was an odd and rare abbreviation. I hadn’t occurred to me that the sign my be a fabrication, but of course, this *is* Hollywood. I also wondered about location the semaphore traffic signal so close to the two signs. It’s an odd placement, don’t you think?
Good catch. The location of the street light pole (with street name signs) relative to the Acme semaphore signal could not exist in practice as the semaphore signals tended to be placed further back from the intersection. In fact, a photo dated 1953 (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/9359111711160478/) shows one corner of the intersection (same?) where there is spacing to allow for maintenance. The studios might have used a spare Acme signal borrowed from the City so that the unique Acme and street name signs. could be captured in one shot.
The semaphore is facing the wrong direction. The blades should swing out to Vine, not Hollywood. And the lights should face the Vine traffic. Another photo on W&P for the NE corner must be after that 1953 shot but while red cars were still running. It shows the old signs on the semaphore have been replaced by a siren-looking object, and a shotgun sign for north Vine has been added to the arch light (which had replaced the standard lights a few years earlier). However, no sign for Hollywood Blvd. can be seen at that point. (Kind of funny as I recall that as a young child I questioned the adults as to the meaning of these abbreviations on these very signs in Hollywood.)
Oops, my mistake! Too accustomed to photo shots from the SE corner..this set-up would be correct for the SW corner semaphore. At this point, STOP signs appear over the low light (at least on the Vine approaches) but what for the boulevard? IIRC, The Broadway still had some old underground elevators at the sidewalks for night deliveries (maybe an artifact of early streetcar freight days) and the opaque glass tiles served as ground level. Perhaps this caused a situation on the corner which affected the placement of the lights when they made the changover? Even the NW corner had the arch lights further out.
Believe it or not, that is the real, working, semaphore! It looks like the extra band was used to hold it up while someone must have also done a job of connecting live jumper wiring so it could be removed from the base location. The camera scans up and over where the semaphore base pole would normally be positioned. (I checked images back to the Dyas days as well as the change from semaphore to dual-direction target light on yellow pole.) It must have been the simplest solution for cheap magic (with city help?). I also think the “Hollywood Blv.” sign is real but perhaps violated rules as a result of keeping letter sizes and spacing which simply did not fit. Notice that it is sharing the dual banding with the Vine St. sign. Someone may have ordered it removed or re-done later and it could have been very short-lived.
Here’s the lucky person who was digging early enamel box signs out of some hillside where they had been dumped: https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/239571-early-1900s-los-angeles-porcelain-enamel