In this glorious color photo we’re looking north up Vine St from the southeast corner of Sunset Blvd, circa late 1950s (as indicated by the brown 1957 Oldsmobile.) We can see signs for the USO, Sachson’s haberdashery, ABC TV, Santa Fe Railway, Plaza Hotel, The Broadway-Hollywood store, Miller beer, and NBC TV. But what *really* intrigues me that black stand behind the bus stop bench, and that other one on the other side of the bench with the red post and black box on top. What were they and what did they do? All suggestions, guesses, and information gladly accepted because I have no idea.
Alexis K says: “The box with the stripes is a combination call box, if you zoom in you can see the side facing us is blue and the opposite side is red. The red side is a fire pull box, pulling the lever sent a telegraph signal to the local fire house indicating location, and the blue side had a small door and a telephone inside. Policeman walking a beat would use it to call in to the police station (remember portable two-way radios weren’t invented until much later, and quite expensive). As a side note, as a kid in the early 80’s I remember a similar one up on hollywood/vine street. I saw the police call box door left open occasionally when waiting for the bus there. All gone by late 1980’s. I believe the stand contained paper bus schedules.”
David G. says: “It has long been a practice of Jehovah’s Witnesses to distribute their literature at bus stops. It has actually peaked in recent years. My guess is that these boxes had The Watchtower and other publications available. Bus schedules were shaped a bit smaller than a standard envelope so as to fit in an interior suit or coat pocket. The picture shows paper-bound booklets. They are almost certainly religious materials.”
John P. says: “I recall “Panorama Pacific” as the morning show on KNXT for two hours, either before or after ‘Captain Kangaroo.'”
This is how that view looked in May 2022.
In the recent posting with the old image of Scrivner’s, we can see another one of those red & white posts on the corner. Maybe the “icicle” look is just a Christmas thing, but the black box on top seems to be a police or fire call box? Maybe even a combination as there seems to be a red one hung back just behind the black one here. The other thing looks like free literature is left out, possibly real estate or tourism guides. Too early for the Hollywood Free Press?
What a grand first email to see this morning. Martin, you certainly have been sleuthing to have found this photo from the opposite direction. Family & friends were amazed to see the photo last week I can only imagine their comments today. Fifty-two years on I wonder what happened to the Sachson’s sign. My warmest thanks!
The dark green box on a moveable stand may have belonged to a religious group, often peeps were handing out their literature. The black box on the red & white pedestal I believe was a police call box.
A friend’s comments…
How wonderful to see your family is part of the fabric that makes Hollywood history.
His guess to your question.
I think the red pole box is to pull for police or fire alarm/box
The box with pamphlets contains maps
The small car behind the Buick is a British-made Hillman Minx (1949-56), something of a rarity since the imported-car market didn’t really catch fire until 1957-59 by which time the next generation Minx (which looked like a smaller ’53 Studebaker) had replaced it.
Looks like Panorama Pacific began at 7a.m. Weekdays and was “worth waking to(?)”. Notice the bus bench forms had three bolt holes…these were originally for slats like the seats and the company names would appear on their benches. So, PACIFIC ELECTRIC would be found on the ones served by their company’s routes. With time they converted these over to the big advertising boards we see here. Occasionally, they would miss a location and the original style name boards could be found. Rare ducks indeed. In the case of the bench for the Gourmet Shop, we can see some painted black identification codes underneath.
Grand sleuthing Martin!