We’re looking north up Broadway in downtown Los Angeles from 7th Street. According to the caption for this photo, those crowds of Angelenos packing both sides of the street came to see President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was 1938, which was the year of the mid-terms and apparently Roosevelt actively campaigned for candidates who were more supportive of New Deal reform. So I assume that’s what was happening here. In the background, we can see the blade sign for the Palace Theatre at 630 S Broadway, which was the third Orpheum Theatre to open in downtown LA. (Source: Noirish LA)
This is roughly how that view looked in February 2023:
Believe this was on July 16, 1938.
Looks like his visit to LA was brief:
9:00am – FDR’s train arrived in Los Angeles, CA at 0900.
10:20am – FDR made an off-platform speech and embarked in his automobile for San Diego, CA.
(http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/daybyday/daylog/july-16th-1938/)
Thanks for that, Bernard!