Before it became one of Los Angeles’s vital east-west arteries, Sunset Blvd was nothing more than a dirt track. This circa 1900 photograph, reportedly taken near what would become the intersection of Sunset and Fairfax, captures that simpler time. At its center, a team of horses stands against a sparse landscape—just telegraph wires stretching toward the Hollywood Hills in the distance.

This is what the intersection of Sunset and Fairfax facing northwest toward the hills looked like in May 2024. What a different 125 years makes!