Decades before it became a Guinness World Records Museum, Hollywood Theatre was an popular movie house at 6764 Hollywood Blvd just east of Highland Ave. In this photo, 20th Century-Fox’s “My Gal Sal” was on a double bill with Paramount’s “The Great Man’s Lady,” both of which came out in 1942. But what I love most about this photo is seeing its neighbors. You could have dinner at Italian Kitchen restaurant, drop by See’s Candies for some munchies, then browse in the Hollywood Book Store, until it’s movie time at the Hollywood Theatre. That’s a whole evening’s entertainment on one short block.
** UPDATE ** – For a comparison, see this 1957 photo taken at the same angle.
This is how that view looked in November 2021.
Absolutely lovely photo. I can imagine doing just as you described, Martin. Browse the stores before the movie. Nice to know that See’s Candy is still in business. Thank you for sharing!
Since this is the war years, there were restrictions on certain foods, like sugar, butter, and chocolate. Rather vital ingredients for See’s! But they didn’t want to drop their quality as others were doing, so they maintained their previous high standards but could not make as many sweets as before. Apparently, people lined up when the stores would open, because when they ran out, the store closed.
I’d never thought about that. Yes, See’s must have been very affected so I can imagine when fresh supplies came in, they would have inundated.
Both movies were released in April and industries were given time through that Spring to clear up civilian business before materials restrictions kicked in. After that, many had to change over to whatever was required to support the war effort. Still, there might have been a consideration for places seen as “needed” for the kinds of distractions where soldiers and sailors took leave from duties. And then there were the factory employees who needed time off, if only to blow whatever was left of their wages after rents and war bonds and such. Next to See’s appears to be a small candy shop or fountain selling popcorn and soda and the like…did the theater not have a concessions stand at this time? The cars don’t seem to have any rationing stickers in the windows yet. The Pacific in large was still pretty calm during the interim when the Atlantic war zone was the focus and U-boats were operating freely. The setbacks for the Japanese Empire in ‘42-‘43 kind of left them hanging on the far side of the waters. Hollywood probably was not hurting too much. Getting a beefsteak might be a bit hard.
From what I understand, the concept of a concession stand (that carried more than maybe popcorn and soda pop) being a profit center didn’t really take off until after the war.
There’s an American flag outside the Italian Kitchen, so if this ain’t a holiday decoration then they must have been trying to make a statement of loyalty amid a lot of anti-Italy sentiment going on at the time. [And in earlier era photos, this might have been yet another location for the pioneering eatery of John’s Cafe during the ‘20’s (and later?)…the signage is hard to read very clearly but looks close to his earlier version and might have been updated for a move. Only a look through directories would answer this.]
Info on the Los Angeles Theaters blog spot has My Gal Sal arriving at this venue around June 21 and playing “briefly”, so flagging for July 4th does not seem improbable here. That little soda place became a bar eventually as seen in a 1957 image.