This image gives us a view of what the Hollywood Hotel on the northwest corner of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave looked like in 1922. It is, in fact, a screengrab from a 1922 movie called Night Life In Hollywood which is about a brother and a sister from Arkansas who arrive in Hollywood in search of wild night life. When this location shot was filmed, the hotel was nearly 20 years old already. (The hotel opened in December 1902 or February 1903, depending on the source.) Most color photos I’ve seen of the hotel show those awnings to be yellow and white, which the ones shown here clearly aren’t. But color photographs from 1920s are few and far between, so maybe we’ll never know.
Jerry J. said: “It’s possible that this is actually yellow and white stripes as red and yellow under some circumstance photograph as black especially depending on the film.”
Bill C. said: Here’s the film — well, missing two reels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3xtcsv9UQw
Here’s another shot from Night Life In Hollywood showing a Hollywood Blvd streetcar:
And here’s the remarkable poster for the movie:
That poster is great!
If I could find a copy of it, I’d hang it on my wall!
I just read the imdb synopsis for that film, and it mentions that the characters went to Will Rogers’s home. If that was was his home in the Pacific Palisades, it sadly burned down during the recent fires. I loved going there and very sad that it’s gone.
Yes, that loss is particularly painful.
Me too! The whole of Will Rogers State Park had such an ambience of peace and calm. The house, the stables, the polo fields and the grounds were a joy to experience. I loved to go there and just slow down. Such a loss!
Yes! The walk to Inspiration Point. And also serendipitously going to the Park when there’s a polo match going on. After the first time we toured the house when I was a kid, I dreamed that our house had turned into his house. I loved it so much.
Love that pix, Martin. What a story about that hotel. PBS should do a documentary about some of these landmarks, although most of the folks involved are long gone. Torn down in the 50s. Rudolph Valentino was one of the earliest stars to live there. I have seen some other photos of the structure. There were two mini towers at the top of the building, very elegant. They probably rebuilt it through the years. Across the street is the giant bank building. That tower is amazing. I have long admired that beautiful building. Whenever I cross the street, it just catches my eye.
I agree. The Will Rogers Park was in a league in itself, also a shame the news media didn’t make much of a story about it. You know why? Many do not have a historical background. When you live and work in LA, you should! I’ll bet a lot of those news people don’t even know who Will Rogers was. I am not kidding. Fortunately, there are family members still around today who could make a difference.
I noticed that too. Barely a mention on the news or in the papers. I kept wondering in the first few days whether it survived or not. Only found out when a friend sent a link from, I think, his grand daughter, saying that all had been lost. I assumed it was because of the enormous loss of homes and lives, the media focused on that, and rightly so, but it also occurred to me that perhaps most people under 70 don’t even know who Will Rogers was. It’s sad since I can’t help but feel we could use some of his homespun wisdom right about now.
Mary, you are spot on. Again, if you’re working in the media, you should have some sense of history. Yes, the people who lost their homes come first, but it would have been a excellent side story to mention Will Rogers and of historical importance. There’s also folks who work on that property who have lost their jobs too. Thats another thing.
The trolley view was at Highland looking eastward along Hollywood Boulevard. To the right we see the single story extension of storefronts which were added to the Toberman Building on the SE corrner. The Hollywood Theater frontage peeks out above the streetcar’s clerestory roof. That car was a Pacific Electric 200-class with California Car type ends that were open air seating having mesh side screenings. This style began about 1902-3 as Harriman Standards, similar to the LARy cars, with varying numbers which were then moved into the new 200 series after the 1911 Great Merger of the intercity trolley systems. (Many if the cars from those component companies which previously had 200 sequence numbers were subsequently renumbered into other new classes.) These cars were the main fleet for PE lines running around the Los Angeles area, but fully enclosed Suburban cars made the long runs too. With the introduction of the new Hollywood Cars in 1922, the aging wooden fleet of 200’s were eliminated as the 1920’s passed. Most of them were probably burned in the shop areas with little regard to saving them. And with them went the old days of Sunny Southern Caleeforneeuh that had attracted so many to those open lands of orange grove opportunity. Straw hats were soon out like bowlers and parasols. Except maybe for W.C. Fields.