In this hand-tinted postcard we glimpse what one of Hollywood’s main intersections – Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave – looked like back in its early days. Following the annexation of Hollywood by the city of LA in around 1910, Prospect Ave was renamed Hollywood Blvd, so we can date this photo to some time after that. We can see the towers of the Hollywood Hotel on the right, and closer to us the building that would later be replaced by the 13-story First National Bank which opened in 1928. Across the street, we can see another hotel sign. It was Bonnie Brier Hotel which occupied the corner that would later be home to Rexall Lee Drugs that I posted a couple of days ago. But in this photo, it’s fun to see early Hollywood where there’s very little hustle and barely any bustle.
This is roughly the same view in May 2022:
I have a framed real estate ad from the first decade of the 20th century showing an illustrated aerial view of this area. It has “Prospect Avenue” written on what is now Hollywood Boulevard. I didn’t know the name changed around 1910, so now I know how old the ad is.
Pretty tough to find anything that pre-dates the absorption into the greater City of Angels. I was able to get two copies, sent to different locations but finally in the hands of one descendant family member, of fold-out advertising postal cards for the recently formed City of Hollywood which listed the new amenities of the town. No motion picture stuff at that time. (Grant Elementary was in its’ original place in those days.) The sender was showing relatives the place where they were now living.
Wow! The only familiar thing is the profile of the Hollywood Hills in the background.