This color photo was taken in 1958, when Western Federal Savings were moving into the office building of the southeast corner of 6th and Hill Streets in downtown Los Angeles. The workers with window offices would have looked out on Pershing Square, which was behind the photographer. That sign for the Cunard Line makes me wonder if their offices were in the same building. (Aside from that mint-green Plymouth on the far right) what really sticks out in this photo is that woman in pink. She sure knew how to stand out in a crowd.
** UPDATE ** – Leonard W on my Facebook page sent me this advertisement, which confirms that Cunard did, indeed, have offices in that building. It’s from the Los Angeles Times, dated April 9, 1958, showing their offices were at 606 S. Hill Street.
This is how that corner looked in February 2023.
Car has that Exner Forward Look styling. Maybe a Plymouth or kin and in the ‘57-‘58 lines? The way the name is presented on the fins should give it away…looks like straight line block letters rather than flying script. There appears to be a white capped fellow-Traffic Officer (?)-on the right of the yellow pole. To the left seems to be a mid-‘50’s Buick/Chevy like curved top car stopped in a left-turn action…but why?
This photo shows the City’s short experiment with a “scramble”, or an exclusive pedestrian signal phase with diagonal crossings. They abandoned it because pedestrians would also try to cross during the vehicle signal phases and because of the congestion that it caused. The City returned back to the regular operation that they called “the sharing o’ the green”.
The Hollywood Blvd. intersections at Highland and Vine Street have employed scrambles for a few years now. I don’t know if there are any in other sections of the city.
They do that in Beverly Hills on Rodeo, too.
I remember them on Colorado Blvd in Old Pasadena, but that was years ago.
Indeed there are still some 4 way scrambles in Old Town Pasadena on Colorado.
This isn’t the corner where the Googies coffee shop is/was?
That was on Fifth and Olive.
Thanks! It’s been so long since I’ve been downtown, I’d forgotten how all the streets run. I should have known 5th though.