For people who regularly shopped in Hollywood, the two-story Pickwick Bookstore at 6743 Hollywood Blvd was a mainstay from when it opened in 1931 until it closed 64 years later in 1995. But take a look at its neighbors in this circa 1939 photo: a gift store, a travel agency, a sporting goods store, and a camera store. It gives a feeling of a community that not just Hollywood Blvd but most strip malls and mini malls seem lack these days. The internet has replaced most of these businesses and although it’s more efficient and convenient, this photo does make me want to get into my car and book a steamship ticket to Catalina.
Glen N. says: “The street light seen in the photo is of a design that debuted in 1948. So, the date of the photo could be nudged forward by roughly a decade.”
This is more or less the same view from November 2021. I don’t know what the Pickwick building is now, but at least it’s still there.
Glad to know that there are some mainstay businesses still functioning today. I wonder what it would be like to physically take a trip back to that exact year and wonder around; maybe pick some camera magazines of that era and other items and just sip a coffee from 1939 and savour the era, sounds, cars, and dress style from 1939.
Whenever I’m asked where I would go if I was offered a ride in a time machine, my answer is always the same: Hollywood, 1939.
The Lincoln-Zephyr…don’t leave your time zone without it!