If the caption on this photo hadn’t said we’re looking west along Hollywood Blvd from Wilcox Ave, I would never have known. Who’d have thought Hollywood Blvd had ever been filled with two-story Victorian homes featuring huge, wraparound balconies and broad, lush front lawns. What a delight it must have been to take a walk around a neighborhood as tranquil as this one. And what a shock the people who lived this houses would get if they saw what the boulevard looked like these days. This photo was taken in 1903, the same year that the Hollywood Hotel opened half a dozen blocks west.
John J. says: “The house on the right belonged to “Mr Hollywood” H. J. Whitley. It was built in the 1890s by E. C. Hurd. The photo is probably pre 1902, which is when Whitley subdivided the land and “Jane’s House” was built on its west side. Also, “Hotel Hollywood” opened in December 1902.”
See also this similar shot from 1909.
This is roughly how that same view looked in May 2022.
First pick is Beautiful, then we come to the new California, awful, looking, closed shops, no customers coming up. What’s next?
I don’t know where you’re from, but I know where your mind is. You ask, “Whats next?” More of the same; from an article last month: “California has the largest market share of tourism in the nation. Travel spending in the state reached an all-time high of $150.4 billion last year, surpassing the record $144.9 billion spent in 2019 – spending that is 3.8% higher than 2019 and 5.6% higher than 2022. The new travel-spending record generated $12.7 billion in state and local tax revenue by visitors in 2023, marking a 3% increase over 2019. Tourism created 64,900 new jobs in 2023, bringing total industry employment to 1,155,000. For the first time since 2014, California is home to the most Fortune 500 companies in the country – beating out Texas, Florida, and all other states. From tech to finance to entertainment, the state’s diverse economy has 57 companies on the list.”
Very hard to imagine beautiful homes and landscaping along Hollywood Blvd. I sure a lot of folks that lived in those homes did see the changes. I was born in the 60’s in Burbank and see that same kind of change. I go down for a visit from time to time, and especially by the media district, it’s a whole different scene. Not the Burbank I remember.
This appears to be taken in the same area and the same direction as the lovely photo you posted on July 19, only six years earlier, and a few steps farther back. My first thought was it was take the same day, but then I noticed your date. And sure enough, the plants aren’t as filled in yet. But the cypress tree looks the same and the century plant in the second yard and the plinths on either side of the diagonal sidewalk leading to steps at the corner. And of course it’s missing the lovely children in their finery. That photo of the children impressed me so, I have not forgotten it.