I’m not 100% sure, but I suspect/assume this photo was taken on some high perch somewhere at the Hollywood Bowl (or perhaps zooming in from the Jerome C. Daniel Overlook northwest of the Bowl?) We can see George Stanley’s 15-foot white granite “Muse of Music, Dance Drama” statue that stands at the start of the Bowl’s driveway. It was dedicated on July 8, 1940. We can also see the French Village that used to stand opposite the Bowl on the east side of Highland where the Hollywood Barn now stands. It was demolished in 1951. So my best guess is that this photo was taken some time in the 1940s—during peak hour if the back up on the Hollywood Freeway is anything to go by!
Here is an aerial photo of the French Village opposite the Hollywood Bowl:
Wikipedia says the Pacific Electric tracks were pulled out of the center median in 1952. I can’t remember if the tracks exited the median onto city streets at the Highland/Franklin/Hollywood Bowl (in which case, they wouldn’t be in the pic), or if they continued South on the 101
The not earlier than date would be determined by the change of colors on the roofs of the PE cars from the light tan original look to the dark grey that replaced it later. The not later than might be tougher to narrow down. I was looking at an older shot a few days back where there was a new pedestrian subway to get under Highland and it came up in front of a dirt hill. They still hadn’t laid in the concrete for the sidewalk forms IIRC. I suppose it was located right down there where the curved wall was found in this shot. So why are those people just sauntering across the open road?
Our friend Grant, who lived on Arbol Drive, the street to the lower right of the picture, points out that there was no freeway in 1940. That busy street on the upper left is Cahuenga Blvd., as it turned right into the Cahuenga Pass. Arbol Drive, as is Odin street next to it is now part of the Bowl parking lot.
One source I read said that the first stage of the 101 was the part that ran through the Cahuenga Pass, which opened on June 15, 1940.
Yes, but it was just called the Cahuenga Pass, (not freeway yet) and ran from roughly the Bowl to Barham, then into Cahuenga and Ventura.