I do so love finding a vibrant color photo of yesteryear Los Angeles. In this one, we’re looking north up Vine St from Sunset Blvd. We can see signs of Coffee Dan’s, Alexander Stationers, American Broadcasting Co, Santa Fe Railway, Plaza Hotel, and the Hollywood-Broadway department store—and that’s just the western side of the street. I don’t know what those two banners strung over the roadway mean, so leave a comment if you know. The red-and-white striped awning on the left belongs to a Wil Wright ice cream parlor. In 1957, Sachson’s Haberdashery took over that space, so I’m placing this photo as circa mid-1950s.
This is roughly how that same view looked in May 2022.
I love surprises…
41 days since the first surprise by Martin Turnbull⭐🤩⭐😍⭐
The only thing we can tell about the striped banners from images is that they may just be using the same colors found in the central advertising banner. Even b/w photos appear to reflect the same shades of greytones. In the case of this posing, that’s the Sheriff’s RODEO with something below about County (maybe Fair?) or Country. The lowest line is too difficult, but that’s often where the date goes read as Month and Days…the year isn’t needed.
Notice the billboard that will be used by Sachson’s later is here apparently advertising COFFEE “DANS” with plain & fat block letters in red. Nothing overtly fancy there.
Rodeo held annually at the Coliseum in August from 1945 to at least 1955.
I grew up in Newport Beach. There was Wil Wrights at Dover Drive and Coast Highway. I don’t think I knew that they had multiple locations.
Can’t tell you a thing about their ice cream. Their parking lot was hell to get in and out of, so we went to 31 flavors or Sav-On drug store.
See how important accessible parking is in LA? Even back then! And yes, they had several including Beverly Hills and the Sunset Strip.
And “mine.” In La Ronda de las Estrellas in Westwood Village.
This stretch of Vine Street must be one of the most photographed streets in Los Angeles. You’ve posted many versions of it from different times. The businesses change, but it basically looks the same. The iconic NBC building was just out of sight to the right and would have still been there at this time, I believe. What is funny to me is that all these older versions of Vine Street, no matter when they were taken, look way more familiar than the current one.
Yes, Vine Street from Sunset to Hollywood Blvd. is now unrecognizable from what it used to look like. It really began to change in the ’90s when so many places had closed and buildings replaced them that grew several stories high. Yet, Hollywood Blvd. looking west from Highland toward Vine Street, though the businesses have obviously changed a lot, pretty much has the same imprint (outline) as it always has. (I was up there last night in the stormy, rainy weather, seeing a nitrate film noir presentation with a sold out audience at the Egyptian Theatre. Afterwards the gloriously colorful Egyptian Theatre neon sign was spectacularly glowing in the cold misty night air.