This is the short of shot I really love coming across as it gives us a gritty feel for what it was like to be walking the streets of Hollywood in times gone by. We’re looking south down Vine St from Hollywood Blvd on the night of June 7, 1951. That neon-lit awning on the right belongs to the Melody Lane diner on the northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine. Across the street is the Broadway Hollywood department store, and across the street we can see the distinctive hat-shaped neon sign for the Brown Derby. I do wonder what the headlines are on the newspapers that the kid is selling next to the semaphore traffic light.
** UPDATE ** – This was the front page of the LA Times that day. Very dramatic!
This image is (very) roughly the same view in May 2022. The Melody Lane building is long gone—it’s now a parking lot. The Brown Derby is long gone, too. The Broadway Hollywood store building is now loft apartments, but at least it’s still there.
Welcome back, Martin. I’m sure you had a great holiday. Glad to have you back in the saddle, so to speak. Your photo finds are brilliant. And this one is especially evocative for me since my grandfather had his office in the Brown Derby building on Vine. Also, this photo was taken exactly one year before I made my appearance in the maternity ward at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital on Fountain Ave, on June 7, 1952. Nice to see what Hollywood looked like just before I arrived!
Thanks.
Nothing like a good dose of wide whitewall tires. The big boy pants that turned the kiddie car into a real automobile. Throw in some of them shiny metal curb feelers with the full wheel covers sets and you’re stylin’.