And from the “We Don’t See This Anymore” file comes this shot of what I can only describe as a horse-drawn billboard designed to advertise Bill Hoppers Blacksmith Shop. It does make me wonder how many blacksmiths still existed in Hollywood by the late 1920s (going by the automobiles in the parking lot in the background.) My guess is “not many” so maybe the point of this display was to remind the locals there was still at least one left. It’s rolling down Hollywood Blvd just west of Vine St, Hollywood.
** UPDATE ** Other people have suggested that this was a mobile blacksmithing service.
Kelly D says: “It only became a parking lot because of arson. I was waiting outside my apt building, on Hollywood Boulevard one morning at 3 am, waiting for the shuttle for LAX, when waaay down Hollywood Blvd, that was devoid of cars, I saw lots of emergency vehicle red lights. Lots. Turns out they were putting out the fire that destroyed the historic restaurant building.”
Andie P says: “Blacksmiths did a lot of work that had nothing to do with horses. Decorative ironwork & etc. My dad hired a mobile blacksmith in the late forties, fifties and sixties, to do ornamental gates, fences, tops on walls, and so on. The horse-drawn trailer may have been an advertising gimmick to attract business. If for shoeing horses, it would have been advertised as a farrier. And the one who took care of my dad’s horses in the fifties, had his base on San Fernando Road in East L.A. he had a portable “furnace” on his truck.”
Possibly taken earlier that day before the parade got going?
Bill Hoppers retired in 1954. Here is an ad for selling off his goods.
The northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine in the vintage photo would later be the site of the CoCo Tree Café, which became Melody Lane, which became Hody’s, which – predictably – is now a parking lot again. This image is August 2022.
Pretty shameful that the once “most famous intersection in the world” is now reduced to a Parking lot, a shuttered Starbucks and Katsuya, and a weed shop
And a closed strip joint!
The disgraceful condition of Hollywood Blvd lies at the feet of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. There are no excuses.
The nice part is that they did expose an older building. Too bad there were no ghost signs painted on it. The lot might not be so bad if they filled it with classic cars again. The Hollywoodvale thingy is presumably being used to promote that development out in the valley which backed up against the Rio Vista shelter stop of the PERy (over SP joint lines) line heading to Van Nuys and Owensmouth branches. What this corner really needs is several rows of lemon trees, or maybe a great museum.
Old Settler’s Day Parade in 1927. Blacksmith Shop sign is seen at the back of a wagon going out of frame left side in an image at Hollywood Historic Photographs gallery for the event. The Post Office building at the back here was fairly new at the time. The clock may have been altered later with the Gruen name and possibly moved up to the side of the Playhouse afterwards?
The Laemmle Building (or Universal-International Bldg.) based in design work of Richard Neutra reportedly first opened in 1933. Plans for the site date back to 1929, abandoned due to depression conditions, but it seems that actual work may not be before 1932 at the earliest. The structure burned in a fire in 2008 when it was last being used as a nightclub. It had already been substantially been altered from the original around 1940. The Dyas building, at where the photographer may be located, opened in March 1928 but must have begun construction in 1927. So it’s not quite clear where the camera was positioned.