At first glance, I assumed this nighttime photo looking west up Hollywood Blvd from around Highland Ave was of the annual Christmas parade, but on further research, I found something far more interesting had been happening. On the night of November 7, 1947, a train of 12 boxcars left Los Angeles. It was known as the Friendship Train, and each of the boxcars were loaded with food donations for a war-weary, food-starved Europe. Over the next month, the Friendship Train wound its way across America, adding more and more boxcars loaded with donations. At the same time, a second train called the Freedom Train, was doing the same thing. By the time the first (of four) boats left New York for Europe on December 7, 1947, over $40 million worth of supplies had been collected. And with Harry M. Warner from Warner Bros. as chair of the Friendship Train Committee, leave it to Hollywood to kick off the whole endeavor with spectacular fanfare.
Nighttime shot of the Friendship Train making its way down Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, November 7, 1947
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Excellent Earth Day MMXXIV post today…thank you, Martin!
Thank you for uncovering this obscure but important piece of history I had not known.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who’d never heard of this event.
This is a pretty astounding thing not to have heard of before, or come across a photo of, it seems to me. There’s a Wikipedia page about this I just read. Apparently France responded with a “Merci Train” back to the United States in 1949! So, I am assuming in this photo it’s an actual train on the P.E. tracks? Thanks for some forgotten history today, Martin! The nice things people do don’t get as much attention in history books. Maybe it’s something like “Hands Across America” from almost 40 years ago that a lot of people wouldn’t know about now.
Martin Pal, how & where were you involved with HAA? I was very involved in LA.
Do you mean you were involved in the organization and such? I was only involved in the event when it was held on that day. I recall you signed up in advance and then an address they wanted you to be at in the city was sent to you. I have that somewhere; it was near Fountain and La Brea. Later on a VHS of the event was sold and I still have it, but nothing to play it on now! We need something like that now, like both the 1947 and 1986 events, to get people to come together for themselves and the benefit of others.
I was an employee in charge of the celebrities in Beverly Hills..we used Gumps as our holding area. Everything was well thought out and we had a great turnout of celebs. The one-piece I didn’t have was a microphone so I asked Mr. Penniman (Little Richard) to assist with a shout! It worked, so glad we were not in the crystal department! Yes, you are right we need something to bring sanity back to our daily lives.