In this 1939 photo, we’re looking north up Vermont Ave toward a LARy (LA Railway) streetcar turning west onto 3rd Street. The thing that worries me the most in this photo is the man in safety island. Apart from that six-inch barrier at the end closest to us, there doesn’t seem to be much that’s safe about it. One false move and he’s a goner.
Bill H says: “The curbing is the deluxe safety island. Most had iron bumps (think huge Botts Dots) to mark the separation.”
This is how that view looked in July 2022. While there’s not much interesting to look at, at least those ugly overhead power lines have gone and the street has those thick, green shade trees.
At the top right, you can see a sign and building that looks like the Bimini Baths/Hot Springs. The sign is fuzzy and the visible facade doesn’t match with other fotos I’ve seen, but that’s where it was until 1951, according to Wikipedia.
Thanks, Deeply. I didn’t see that sign!
On the building upper right, beneath that chevron type sign, it says “Artie Shaw & Orch Nitely.” Then further to the right at the edge, that curved sign has the letters PA which I believe is for the Palomar Ballroom. In searching the Bimini address, the most common writing is near Vermont and 3rd Street. Palomar is listed as 245 South Vermont Avenue.
If you search Martin T.’s site you’ll find some other photos of the Palomar and some of the following info; according to Wikipedia: “The Palomar Ballroom, built in 1925, was a famous ballroom in Los Angeles. It was destroyed by a fire on October 2, 1939. Originally named the El Patio Ballroom and then Rainbow Gardens, and located on the east side of Vermont Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Street, it boasted being ‘the largest and most famous dance hall on the West Coast.’ The response of LAFD was delayed by an address error. The Charlie Barnet Orchestra lost most of its equipment in the fire. Their tune All Burned Up was a gallows humor reference to the event.”
I realize now that the sign closest to Vermont is for the 1600-seat Belmont Theater, the tower w/ 5 windows is part of the Palomar Ballroom and the Bimini Baths would have been behind it all and off camera to the right. The crowds around that area must have been something.
The 1927 view of the then empty lot where the Standard Oil Chevron station appears here: https://martinturnbull.com/2024/03/21/a-statue-of-a-man-on-a-horse-near-vermont-avenue-los-angeles-advertises-the-gaucho-playing-at-graumans-chinese-theatre-circa-1927-2/
One of the advantages claimed by buses over streetcars when the conversion was first proposed is demonstrated here – buses can and do pick up and drop off passengers at the curb rather than in the middle of the street, as demonstrated in the 2022 picture. The downside is that they also can and do get stuck in traffic.