In this photo we’re looking south along a busy Broadway from 4th Street in downtown Los Angeles. Back in 1931, when this photo was taken, downtown LA was much more of a thriving heart of LA than it is these days: packed sidewalks, traffic, streetcars. I don’t recognize those triangular floral banners stretched over Broadway, so I don’t know what was going on that week, but I’m wondering if it’s helping to pack the streets.

This is roughly how that view looked in May 2024. Even though the Googlemobile goes out early in the day when capturing Streetview images, the contrast between “then” and “now” is striking.